tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40518260426022690612024-03-16T14:32:14.819-07:00Diary of an AutodidactDiary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.comBlogger1351125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-38346656118613607602024-03-16T14:31:00.000-07:002024-03-16T14:31:16.007-07:00Broadway and the Bay - Live Theater in March 2024<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">My wife and I
finally got to take a longer trip together - for the first time since 2016 and
Paris - and went to New York City. It was my first visit, but her second; she
and a friend went in 2022, a trip that had been planned for 2020, but things,
um, happened. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I probably
mentioned this, but my wife is a big Broadway fan. We both love live theater -
our first date was Shakespeare, after all - but Broadway is very much her
thing. Her prior trip was to see Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in <i>The Music
Man</i>, and she grabbed discount last-minute tickets for a few other
shows. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For this
trip, the main attraction was <i>Merrily We Roll Along</i>, one of Stephen
Sondheim’s flops. Well, at least initially. More about that later. I picked a
performance at the Metropolitan Opera for my main show, and we saw Puccini’s <i>Turandot</i>.
With the exception of Monday night, when most Broadway theaters close, we got
last-minute seats for every additional night of our trip. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In addition,
my wife discovered that an obscure Gilbert and Sullivan operetta was playing
several hours away the weekend before our trip, so I am including that in this
post. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I will
discuss the shows in the order I saw them. Because there are so many, I will
not be writing full-length discussions of each due to time constraints. There
are many other things that would be fun to discuss about each, from the details
of staging to the nuances of the themes. My wife and I did discuss each after
we saw them, either over dinner (NYC is actually open after 10 PM!) or
cocktails. I cannot imagine anyone I would rather go see shows with for that
reason. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Ruddygore </span></i></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">(Gilbert and Sullivan)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This show was
playing up in Mountain View (for non-Californians, that is in Silicon Valley),
close enough to drive up for the day and see a matinee. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Ruddygore</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> is not well known outside of the tribe of Gilbert and Sullivan
fans. It’s initial run was a flop, in significant part because of poor acting,
but also because audiences found the plot to be unsatisfying. I am not entirely
sure why, as G&S plots are, pretty much by the conventions of comic
operetta, thoroughly silly. I mean, <i>Cosi Fan Tutti</i> is even sillier, but
whatever. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The second
run went better. The name was changed to Ruddigore (apparently because “ruddy”
was too close to “bloody” and thus profanity), and some songs and dialogue were
changed. Whether the changes themselves were sufficient, or if audiences just
reacted differently the second time is unclear. For my part, I don’t understand
what the initial distaste was about - the operetta is hilarious and satirical
and a lot of fun. I am also using the original spelling, as this production
did. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The basic
idea is this: The Murgatroyds, dukes of Ruddygore, have been cursed by a witch,
after the progenitor of the family engaged in witch hunts. Every duke must
henceforth commit a crime a day, or he will be tortured to death by his
ancestors. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The latest
duke, Ruthven, has disappeared, and, as we soon learn, is living as a gentleman
farmer under the name of Robin Oakapple. His younger brother, Despard, has
ascended to the dukedom, and is living as a proper villain. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Young Rose is
the niece of Dame Hannah (who was once engaged to another of the Murgatroyds),
and the most eligible single lady in town. She has been raised by her aunt…and
a book of etiquette. Because of this, she believes the man must take the first
step. She has interest in Robin, but he is too shy and unconfident to speak his
love. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Also in the
mix is Robin’s foster brother, Richard Dauntless, who is a sailor and a rake;
and Mad Margaret, who was engaged to Despard. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Got all
that? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This is,
naturally, the setup for everything to go wrong, before being made right. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I won’t get
into the plot more than that, but I will mention some of the scenes and
songs. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This
particular production was set in Mexico, and the dancing is folklorico. This
gave the director some fun and interesting options for telling the story, which
I thought worked well. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">First, during
the overture, the projected background portrayed the characters as loteria
cards. Each was featured in turn, with a little background information on the
character, to help the audience figure out who everyone was in advance. This
was quite helpful - although I also read the libretto beforehand. (We own a
lovely two volume Folio Society set of the Savoy Operettas.) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Second,
Richard Dauntless was played with exaggerated <i>machismo</i>, perfect for the
part. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The
production also had a live orchestra, which is always appreciated. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In general,
the acting was done in a melodrama style, with stylized rather than realistic
characterization. Given the silly plot, this really is the way to go. Don’t
take things too seriously. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the
scenes that apparently flopped initially occurs in the second act, when the
paintings of the ancestors come to life and hassle poor Ruthven. I am hard
pressed to believe that the audiences of the time failed to note that the whole
thing is a parody of the visit of the statue in <i>Don Giovanni</i> - and that
includes the music itself. It is truly hilarious, and yet a bit more chilling
than Gilbert and Sullivan typically are. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In this
production, there is another fun nod. As Don Giovanni prepares for his dinner
party, the orchestra plays familiar songs - including one from <i>The Marriage
of Figaro</i>, which Leporello comments he knows far too well. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In <i>Ruddygore</i>,
when the ghosts give Ruthven a sample of the agonies he will face, they sing
(badly indeed) songs from other Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, causing Ruthven
to say “I had no idea it was anything like that!” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There is so
much more I could say about the operetta, but I have to get to the other shows
we saw as well. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Special call
outs to Noah Evans, as the foppish and timid Ruthven (great physical acting and
so hilarious), Sabrina Romero-Wilson as the virginal and fickle Rose, and
Eduardo Gonzalez-Maldonado as the swaggering Dauntless. Overall, great singing
and acting - a fine production. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBE20MVxgWyUihTQEafTLUEnqXhIqVEMI8GzLuVjC_0_EDBnRmtsDNrv3zDXg8VEcxDwEqduHAvpHOgw0iL2Ws-ZXgZuswYR8rrhUK0Te27w-tRTUna411AhmcebUZ9At7IxX7x2Q9qtURRxFxnMaba5KlvqTQfBXOv378ynDVDlQecrBWukmK7Jf37MZ/s500/ruddygore-500x500-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzBE20MVxgWyUihTQEafTLUEnqXhIqVEMI8GzLuVjC_0_EDBnRmtsDNrv3zDXg8VEcxDwEqduHAvpHOgw0iL2Ws-ZXgZuswYR8rrhUK0Te27w-tRTUna411AhmcebUZ9At7IxX7x2Q9qtURRxFxnMaba5KlvqTQfBXOv378ynDVDlQecrBWukmK7Jf37MZ/s320/ruddygore-500x500-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">An Enemy of
the People</span></i></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> by Henrik Ibsen</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I just missed
a chance to go see this play in Los Angeles before the pandemic, but went ahead
and read it, intending to see it live whenever I could. I wrote about the play
itself </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2020/01/an-enemy-of-people-by-henrik-ibsen.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">in this post</span></a><span style="color: black;">, and
noted that the second half of the play was increasingly bizarre and
misanthropic. In particular, the hero (to the extent there is one), Dr.
Stockman, goes off on a rather eugenicist rant, which alienates everyone from
him. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Subsequent
playwrights, most notably Arthur Miller, have noted the problems, and made
attempts to make Dr. Stockman more palatable, or at least understandable. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In this
production, the revised version was done by Amy Herzog, who took kind of a
middle road. The most poisonous of the eugenics are removed - the stuff that
would tend to sound like racial slurs to a 21st Century American audience - but
she leaves in his classist views, and very much makes the way the citizens of
the town turn on Dr. Stockman to be fully believable. I very much liked the
adaptation - I felt it preserved the character of the play without losing
anything while also modernizing the language. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">What this
does, though, is leave the character of Dr. Stockman as problematic - is he the
hero? Is he doing the right thing, but in the wrong way? Is he allowing his own
prejudices to undermine his goals? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Clearly, this
requires an excellent actor to make all of the internal contradictions
coherent. Jeremy Strong (probably best known for <i>Succession</i>, but he got
his start on Broadway) played the part, and gave the best male performance in
any of the shows we saw. In my opinion. (And there was competition, believe
me.) Just a fantastic job of showing the inner conflicts, the blind spots, the
lack of self-awareness that dooms him. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Playing
opposite him, as his brother, the mayor and capitalist who is willing to
sacrifice lives for profit, was Michael Imperioli (<i>The Sopranos</i>), who
nailed the lugubrious and ruthless nature of the character. It was easy to see
the combination of conflicting motivations as well as the sibling
rivalry. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Those were
the big headliners, but all of the parts were well done. I’ll mention Victoria
Pedretti in the role of Petra. Speaking of which, the major change that Herzog
made was to combine the character of Petra (Dr. Stockman’s daughter) with that
of Katherine, his wife. Katherine is killed off before the play opens, and
Petra gets her lines as well as her own. I think this actually worked well, as
I felt there was some overlap. Katherine in the original version is the
supportive wife, while Petra is the somewhat radical schoolteacher. It was easy
enough for one woman to do both. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">We saw this
at Circle in the Square, a theater in the round. Even with back-row seats, we
were close to the action, and heard every line clearly. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Another
interesting twist in the production is that the meeting that opens the second
act was set in a bar, which was set up on the stage. Audience members who gave
ID before the show then got a shot of Linie Aquavit - the Norwegian spirit with
strong caraway notes. I suspect there was a sponsorship agreement of some sort,
but it actually really worked. The audience came up on stage and was
essentially part of the meeting as the play resumed. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I’ll end by
noting that this play truly seems relevant today. While the original public
health issue was bacteria in the water, it tracks for both Covid response and
climate change. In both cases, appropriate response and correction has been
difficult in no small part because all of society is complicit and stands to
lose financially. And that, unfortunately, includes the little guy - perhaps he
loses the most because he has the least reserve to weather a transition. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKu4CI8C3I37FOL5NNgm8s7mYUj45URA9SjwrfXwFRcfeu6rIkCVbl5qUD2qefaOKqOd22HB5uUWdBo5l9vSuxynhcFbte4TgLQEuQEwSeRw6DxqB4gmE-ESF-F17hyxdX_TrNRCI3N1vK1Qc7hMrCjpoPVidPvnLzSyGcQ4NxgFLukkXr6nzU-dlObcx/s225/An%20Enemy%20of%20the%20People.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaKu4CI8C3I37FOL5NNgm8s7mYUj45URA9SjwrfXwFRcfeu6rIkCVbl5qUD2qefaOKqOd22HB5uUWdBo5l9vSuxynhcFbte4TgLQEuQEwSeRw6DxqB4gmE-ESF-F17hyxdX_TrNRCI3N1vK1Qc7hMrCjpoPVidPvnLzSyGcQ4NxgFLukkXr6nzU-dlObcx/s16000/An%20Enemy%20of%20the%20People.jpg" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Turandot</span></i></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> by Giacomo Puccini</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I will admit
that I love Puccini’s music. Of course it is emotionally manipulative and
schmaltzy - that is the point, and there is nothing wrong with that. Of his
operas, I am the most fond of <i>Turandot</i>, in no small part because the
score is so gorgeous and innovative. There were a few different operas we could
have seen, but I went with this one, and was not disappointed. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The plot is,
naturally, dramatic. Its origins are in a 12th Century Persian poetic epic,
with the story modified over time by Francoise de al Croix, Carlo Gozzi, and
Friedrich Schiller, in that order, before Puccini enlisted Giuseppe Adami and
Renato Simoni to write the libretto. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Puccini
himself died before he could complete <i>Turandot</i>, but left enough sketches
behind so that Franco Alfano was able to complete the orchestration. One
casualty of the death is that the ending seems to be lacking either an aria or
a duet to flesh out how Turandot comes to love Prince Calaf. As it is, the transition
seems a bit sudden and forced, and you have to read between the lines. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The opera
also has its problematic elements, as the program noted. Even in its original
Persian form, it exoticised “China” as a place of barbarity and superstition,
and Puccini’s version contains some stereotyping that would not be put on stage
today. Like many masterworks of the past, you have to look beyond the flaws and
enjoy the good. Most likely future generations will do the same for what we
write today. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The story is
a bit like others in <i>The Arabian Nights</i>. Princess Turandot, furious
about the way her ancestor was raped and murdered by an invading prince, has
sworn never to marry, but to have her revenge on men. She therefore decrees
that any man who wishes to woo her must answer her three riddles. If he fails,
he is beheaded. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Enter Prince
Calaf, who decides to risk his life for his love of Turandot. His elderly
father begs him not to do it. His father’s faithful servant, Liu, who has
harbored a crush on Calaf since childhood, begs him not to do it. Alas, he does
not return Liu’s love. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Calaf
successfully answers the riddles, to Turandot’s horror. She never expected to
have to marry, and asks Calaf if he would take her by force. Calaf replies that
he would rather that she burn with desire for him, and gives her an out: if she
can tell him his name, then he will release her from her obligation to marry
him, and submit to execution. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This sets off
a frantic search to discover Calaf’s name. Liu, seeing that Calaf’s father may
be tortured, claims that she alone knows his name and will never reveal it. She
steals a dagger from a guard and kills herself, to Calaf’s horror. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">At the end,
just before the sunrise that will mark the deadline to reveal his name, Calaf
places his life in Turandot’s hands, telling her his name. At the climax,
Turandot announces she knows his name - it is Love - and agrees to marry
him. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It is a
tragedy even amid the happy ending - for Liu, there is no winning, and the
grief of unrequited love can only find its end in her sacrifice for her
beloved. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For Calaf, he
wins his victory the right way. (I don’t blame him for Liu - he didn’t owe her
his love, and never made any promise to her - and he is genuinely shocked when
she chooses death.) That telling scene with Turandot, where he declines to have
her against her will is powerful - he will have her love because she loves, not
by obligation. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For Turandot,
while her reasons are left out (possibly due to the death of the composer as
noted above), it isn’t difficult to imagine them. Calaf is the first suitor who
takes her intellect seriously, engaging with the riddles and guessing her
personality in creating them. He respects her reluctance to marry, and gives
her an out. And, in the end, with victory in reach, he chooses to be
vulnerable, to literally place his life in her hands, and have her for love, or
not at all. It is a better ending than most fairy tales, in my opinion. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As for this
production, no superlative seems enough. Los Angeles has a lot of things going
for it, but it really does not have the level of opera that the Met can
provide. For one thing, I don’t think there is a stage and pit of the size
needed. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There were
over 100 singers on stage, a huge orchestra, and incredible sets. As for the
sets, they took two intermissions - one after each act - and they were long due
to the need to completely remove and rebuild the sets, each of which were
different and changed during the acts themselves. After the opening of the
second act, the screens were removed, revealing a whole structure behind it,
and you could hear the audience gasp - it was that unexpected. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">So, total
spectacle, which is what grand opera is supposed to be. The singing was
outstanding all around, and the orchestra sounded phenomenal - totally together
and in sync with the singers. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Even those
who aren’t into opera have to love a little </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suj-2sbSFKs"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">Nessun
Dorma</span></i></a><span style="color: black;">, right? Calaf’s aria where he
expresses his optimism that he is going to win this thing is so delicious that
I enjoyed it even if the audience did applaud before the orchestra finished
that final cadence - come on people! The orchestra matters too! </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It really was
a wonderful night, and my favorite of the productions we saw. Although,
obviously, I enjoyed all of them. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYodHNk5lB56SArZJT_YCNQcM_vr-zaKtLaEc87v3dQJlC_dailIpkvexLrI3lFB8QhUb12ut9FlzJuNpG3XvfzLxghrO1e0ctcbgIo34pS3OvLVkoYrPoO8ntwDg2wwqeing96nf8cIGl-6i4WIOR_ySIeS4gvjg2wS0GP_2NpFr5BdUoPuBmmT1o0YXZ/s1600/turandot-1600x685-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1600" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYodHNk5lB56SArZJT_YCNQcM_vr-zaKtLaEc87v3dQJlC_dailIpkvexLrI3lFB8QhUb12ut9FlzJuNpG3XvfzLxghrO1e0ctcbgIo34pS3OvLVkoYrPoO8ntwDg2wwqeing96nf8cIGl-6i4WIOR_ySIeS4gvjg2wS0GP_2NpFr5BdUoPuBmmT1o0YXZ/w640-h274/turandot-1600x685-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Sweeney Todd</span></i></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the
mad skills my wife has is knowing how to get tickets to stuff. For the ones we
knew would be super popular, she got them well in advance. For the ones that
would likely have tickets available up until the day of the performance, she
waited in line for the discount ones. The first of these was <i>Sweeney Todd</i>. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I was
familiar with the musical, but had never seen it in person. It has been done
locally, with Ken Burdick as the titular character - my wife saw that one, but
I either was out of town or had a concert. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The character
of Sweeney Todd has been around since the Victorian Era, making his first
appearance in print in </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_String_of_Pearls"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">The String of Pearls</span></i></a><span style="color: black;">, an anonymous penny dreadful. Sondheim based the musical
on the 1970s play by Christopher Bond. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The story
should be familiar enough. Sweeney Todd is a barber who was wrongfully
convicted and transported so that a corrupt judge and beadle could have his
beautiful wife. Returning to England, vowing revenge, he sets up his barber
shop above a meat pie shop run by Mrs. Lovett - the worst pies in London! </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">After Todd
kills a blackmailer, Mrs. Lovett comes up with a plan to dispose of the body -
and things escalate from there pretty fast. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It is best
not to take this musical too seriously. It is lurid and violent of course, but
also really funny. A macabre sense of humor and an appreciation for Sondheim’s
delicious lyrics are a must. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I
particularly want to mention that this show had the single best performance we
saw the whole week. Sutton Foster played Mrs. Lovett, and she is incredible in
every possible way. From the physical acting to the dancing to the singing in
an accent while remaining on perfect pitch - every facet of her performance was
amazing, and she totally owned the stage in every scene. No shade to Aaron
Tveit in the title role - he was great - but nobody could compete with Foster.
She is a superstar for a reason. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Another
mention goes to Mia Pinero in the role of Johanna. She was the understudy in
several roles, and got to shine in this particular performance. Great job and
really excellent singing. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The set was
rather cool too - lots of moving parts that could be rearranged. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It was fun to
see this show together, because my wife knows an incredible amount about
Sondheim’s works and about music theater in general, so I always learn things
talking with her afterwards. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I’ll note
that this show, like all of them (except <i>An Enemy of the People</i> for
obvious reasons) had a live orchestra, which I always love. Sondheim’s score
for <i>Sweeny Todd</i> may well be his best. Very symphonic, with fascinating
rhythms and harmonies - definitely not a boilerplate musical - and a
near-operatic use of music to move the plot forward. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-y6AHqIdGtRkGUrxAU2Vq6erDHFeqLh7VibP9Xp0ZvuFSHPoHhCSkTJiuZDI_1ceXkfsXJRYRnqlAEp6xrgaQJN7MQbbab6vLc6wbF9KXP5UtetfjmEH7z3vtkIj4qhc4m4Q6pTs3N3CDsaf9AhjvRvUAmhN1dtL8_b1NnlRXVbHJZs6TPMD1P2dRFKO/s800/Sweeney%20Todd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-y6AHqIdGtRkGUrxAU2Vq6erDHFeqLh7VibP9Xp0ZvuFSHPoHhCSkTJiuZDI_1ceXkfsXJRYRnqlAEp6xrgaQJN7MQbbab6vLc6wbF9KXP5UtetfjmEH7z3vtkIj4qhc4m4Q6pTs3N3CDsaf9AhjvRvUAmhN1dtL8_b1NnlRXVbHJZs6TPMD1P2dRFKO/w400-h225/Sweeney%20Todd.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Chicago</span></i></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This was
another last-minute choice, with a couple of backups if we had failed to get
tickets. I hadn’t seen <i>Chicago</i> before, and went in with no idea what it
was about, which is kind of fun sometimes.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I appreciated
that the band was on stage throughout. This left a limited space for the acting
and dancing, and the sets were minimal, but this is part of the experience.
Likewise, all of the performers except poor Amos were dressed in chorus girl or
guy outfits throughout - Amos got a bland suit, for his invisibility.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The show is a
send-up of celebrity “justice,” which seems pretty relevant now with a certain
orange messiah continuing to avoid actual incarceration, which would have
happened years ago for us ordinary folk had we done what he did. It also is a
satire of show conventions, with plenty of tongue-in-cheek lines and knowing
winks. So basically a lot of fun. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The show
opens with Roxie gunning down her paramour for trying to break things off with
her, and her husband Amos agreeing to take the blame. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This pretense
only holds until Amos realizes who the victim is, and that he has been
cuckolded. Roxie’s arrest and subsequent trial are the main plot, but there is
also the matter of aging star Velma, also awaiting trial for the murder of her
husband and sister, who she caught <i>in flagrante delicto</i>. Roxie is the
younger and newer celebrity murderess, who steals Velma’s lawyer, her tabloid
attention, and her trial date. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The lawyer is
Billy, who is in it for the money. Although, to be honest here, his lawyering
seems ethical enough. His job is to get a not-guilty verdict for his female
clients, and in order to do that, he has to portray them as victims. This is
pretty standard stuff, and demanding large fees for the task is fair enough -
capital cases are time eaters and need to be done right. So, as a lawyer, I’ll
deduct points for smarminess, and add points for fairly good adherence to
actual legal procedure, albeit stylized. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Poor Amos,
though. He can’t catch a break, and he is ruthlessly taken advantage of by
Roxie. His sad aria about being invisible was hilarious. And also, the actor
playing him (I can’t find my playbill for this one) was perfect in the role. He
not only looks like a cartoon loser from a century ago, he had such a hangdog
aspect and delivery. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Velma too was
a real scene-stealer, with a big voice and the best dance moves in the
cast. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Overall, I
would say <i>Chicago</i> was the most fluffy of the shows we saw, all about the
fun and laughs and satire. Which, considering how dark the other shows were,
was a nice contrast. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjajyyr0h9CVuBkKtBMeWoAQhBXEBq5a_TReHyU2w1s-1fV1njOnuMj4DDEXuOkCMl9wwjGzGqviZFFJ6gkXq2HZC7NhedYoS4vBPFVTgiySUz20z1UML4VB8UY0nCR2hgmdBl0VYhYgVdy5JooYj7Rh3xNqFOcT-XHm9DTBshoZAdJOkk0u7snFFBXnxzg/s1350/Chicago.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1350" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjajyyr0h9CVuBkKtBMeWoAQhBXEBq5a_TReHyU2w1s-1fV1njOnuMj4DDEXuOkCMl9wwjGzGqviZFFJ6gkXq2HZC7NhedYoS4vBPFVTgiySUz20z1UML4VB8UY0nCR2hgmdBl0VYhYgVdy5JooYj7Rh3xNqFOcT-XHm9DTBshoZAdJOkk0u7snFFBXnxzg/w400-h285/Chicago.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Merrily We
Roll Along</span></i></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> by Stephen Sondheim and
George Furth</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As I
mentioned above, <i>Merrily We Roll Along</i> was one of Sondheim’s flops. It
got negative reviews, and closed after a mere 16 performances, in many of which
the audience walked out. Yikes. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Part of the
problem may have been the casting decision. All of the parts were cast as teens
or young adults - the age of the characters at the start of the chronology. The
costumes were identical, making it hard for the audience to keep the characters
straight, and the themes didn’t resonate. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The basis for
the musical was an earlier play by </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2016/06/you-cant-take-it-with-you-by-george-s.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">George Kaufman and Moss Hart</span></a><span style="color: black;">, updated a bit for a new era. The original also had a
rough initial run, finding only modest success later. Sondheim switched the era
so that Hollywood would play a major role in the plot, and also changed the
specifics and names of the characters. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">What Sondheim
did retain is the backward structure of the original. When we first meet the
characters, it is at the end of the story, when they are middle-aged and
disillusioned. Each scene goes back a few more years until the play ends with
the naive, idealistic, and hopeful youths looking forward to an open future,
oblivious to the trauma that awaits them. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">If one were
to tell the story forward, it is of three friends: composer Franklin Shepard,
playwright Charlie Kringas, and journalist Mary Flynn. They meet-cute as young
people, and swear friendship. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For a while,
things go well. Franklin and Charlie become a lyrics and music pair, with the
dream of writing a political musical, <i>Take a Left</i>, and in the meantime
paying bills by writing and performing in witty revues at a local
theater. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">They are
eventually discovered by agent Joe, and have a few hits on the stage. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But there are
problems. Mary’s love for Franklin is unrequited. He instead marries Beth, they
have a son, and eventually divorce when Frankin has an affair with Joe’s wife
Gussie. Franklin pushes for more and more commercial success, in part because
he has child support payments to keep up. This in turn causes conflict with
Charlie, who wants to retain the purity of their art, not sell out any
further. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">A
catastrophic television interview forever severs that friendship, and Mary, who
has fallen by the wayside, slides into alcoholism. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In a way,
each finds success - Franklin has Hollywood blockbusters which are vapid and
forgettable but make money; Charlie wins a Pulitzer for one of his plays, and
enjoys a happy marriage with his longtime sweetheart; and Mary’s book sells
well enough and is translated into other languages. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But these
victories are hollow. Franklin would trade his celebrity for what Charlie has -
an intact marriage and artistic integrity. Charlie has lost his dearest
friendships, in part because of his inability to discuss things directly,
letting his frustration build up until he snapped. Mary never finds love - by
the time Franklin is finally single again, she realizes he is not worth the
bother. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">So yes, some
heavy themes. Not least of which is one that very much resonates for me at my
age. There was a time when I was looking at a future which seemed endlessly
open, all possibilities on the table. I am thinking particularly of some of
those nights with my then girlfriend (now wife) when we were hopelessly
optimistic about the future. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">To be fair,
many of our hopes and dreams really did come true. We have had a good marriage,
we have five children who we are proud of, and have enjoyed. (Some are about to
fly the nest, which really does mean I am getting old.) My wife’s career dreams
have been met, and I have done all right in my quiet legal practice. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But there are
other things we could never have anticipated: Trump and Covid are big ones, of
course. My estrangement from my parents - it is hard to believe I was once
naive enough to think my mom would eventually embrace my wife, but youth will
be youth. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Even the good
things, though, have gone from the realm of anticipation and imagination, and
there is a certain bittersweetness about that. I have thoroughly enjoyed being
a parent (at least most of the time), but I can see the end approaching as my
kids grow up. There are things we hoped to do but haven’t. The “is” is pretty
darn good and I’m not complaining, but there will always be the “what might
have been.” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">One could
describe this as the aching sadness of existence. And also the beauty of life,
ephemeral as it is. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This show was
the one with the biggest headliners, so my wife got tickets well in advance.
Jonathan Groff played Franklin, and was, in my opinion, the most consistently
good performer. He has a great voice, with an excellent ability to project at
low volumes, dances like a pro, and inhabited his character. He’s worth seeing
in any role. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mary was
played by Lindsay Mendez, who has a long list of Broadway credits. She was
great, and did a great job particularly of portraying the different ages of her
character. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For many in
attendance, I suspect Daniel Radcliffe as Charley was the main draw. He is a
bit of a different performer than the other two. He sings in tune and
pleasantly, but he doesn’t have a particularly big voice - it isn’t Broadway in
character exactly. But his acting is really excellent. Charley is in my opinion
the hardest part in the show. He is, on the one hand, intended to be the most
likeable character, the one the others tend to take for granted. But he also
has to lash out pretty viciously on live television, so it is important that
the character be developed sufficiently so that the snap makes sense in
context. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Oh, and this
has to be done <i>backwards</i>. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Yeah, it’s a
tough part, and I thought Radcliffe sold it really well. I’ll also note that
Radcliffe had to compete with actors who have done Broadway for a lot longer
than he has, and also who are all taller than him. (As a short guy myself, I
fully sympathize.) He had to work harder to project presence and assert himself
as the equal of the others. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Circling back
to the idea of the backwards format, I think this was a challenge in general,
and may have been a reason for the initial failure of the show. So many things
have to not only go backwards, but have to be kept in chronological order in
the characters’ heads. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Not only do
they have to grow in reverse, so to speak, to regress toward the womb of youth,
they have to act the early scenes fully aware of the later (in the show but
earlier in chronology) scenes that explain the ones they act first. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The music
itself does this too - we hear the reprises of songs before we hear the
original versions the reprises reference and alter. The emotional impact of
each trauma comes out first, before we see the better times of the original.
Keeping all of this in mind is a huge demand on the actors. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I felt they
rose to the occasion quite well - not just the leads but the supporting
characters. The whole felt coherent to me, and the way the emotional arc felt
complete at the end, backwards, was impressive. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The music was
very Big Band era, so a lot different than the other Sondheims I have
experienced. My wife says it has a number of things in common with <i>Company</i>,
which she saw on her last trip to New York. (Weirdly, I have never seen that
show, but have played a tune from it at a wedding…) </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The band was
located on essentially a balcony above the stage, only partly visible, but easy
to hear. It was a good score, and Sondheim’s quirky lyrics are always fun, even
in a darker work like this one. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcLP6CwBT0fHfkVCdB8pQwAUxUp_2eT6SKMA0xRKxRamnolFR35lAo5HFYwA8MaD2nJ_5fzx21q_Alxxd1ICUoRJ1eo2DmZX4ajobOd5MFwqHrpe-g2XZdndH_wXBxc6kwX86AhK5syyayHhXqJYKJEdgorLog9xbIOjR-p9Gxz1rJN-lgmiqL4fQo8aCM/s1200/Merrily%20We%20Roll%20Along.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcLP6CwBT0fHfkVCdB8pQwAUxUp_2eT6SKMA0xRKxRamnolFR35lAo5HFYwA8MaD2nJ_5fzx21q_Alxxd1ICUoRJ1eo2DmZX4ajobOd5MFwqHrpe-g2XZdndH_wXBxc6kwX86AhK5syyayHhXqJYKJEdgorLog9xbIOjR-p9Gxz1rJN-lgmiqL4fQo8aCM/w400-h225/Merrily%20We%20Roll%20Along.webp" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">So, there you
have it. Our run of live theater and a much-needed getaway trip with my
beloved. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-42328669096842754942024-03-05T15:14:00.000-08:002024-03-05T15:14:12.874-08:00The Catherine Wheel by Jean Stafford<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
I own this</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One of my
ongoing reading projects is to go back and read classic books from the 20th
Century that were not part of my high school curriculum. As I have mentioned,
while my high school education was rigorous, it was video courses and
curriculum from a conservative religious school in Florida, and as far as I
could tell, other than Steinbeck and a few others, the 20th Century was
ignored. Likewise, my mom, who supplemented our curriculum with classic
literature that she liked, had very little experience with 20th Century
literature, so we never really experienced it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I do not mean
this to be a criticism. First, now that a few of my own kids have completed
high school, it is obvious that even the most secular of curricula have a lot
of gaps, simply because there is insufficient time to read hundreds of books.
And, for whatever reason, the middle to late parts of the 20th Century get left
out. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Second,
regarding my parents, they both introduced me to great literature early, and
kept us supplied with books at home and from the library - they were better
than the vast majority of parents at this, and inculcated us kids with a love
of literature and reading. This is very much to their credit and one of the
best things they did as parents. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But, what is
true is that there has been a bit of a gap, and I am working to fill that,
particularly through my growing collection of used Library of America
hardbacks, of which this is one. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48Ro3acKijgj2fG5mc0_Ghyphenhyphen_JVjwqMCQv__fPXIOqid8H1yG6R7qqAni7Ims-zTnN7bT8LIWsYATJCgBrqj6l3e7eLNkzmAaxm0NbEn6ABob4U7hoqGuhgWwejF2ofygrFiMw1vE8WxFCywuL94y31Z5Czn-Ks2OIfKGBJ1SQxfoZQ9RGSf5k5jgKauY_/s1486/Jean%20Stafford%20Novels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1486" data-original-width="914" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi48Ro3acKijgj2fG5mc0_Ghyphenhyphen_JVjwqMCQv__fPXIOqid8H1yG6R7qqAni7Ims-zTnN7bT8LIWsYATJCgBrqj6l3e7eLNkzmAaxm0NbEn6ABob4U7hoqGuhgWwejF2ofygrFiMw1vE8WxFCywuL94y31Z5Czn-Ks2OIfKGBJ1SQxfoZQ9RGSf5k5jgKauY_/w246-h400/Jean%20Stafford%20Novels.jpg" width="246" /></a></span></div><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jean Stafford
was popular during her prime - the 1940s and 50s. However, changing taste and
her own alcoholism led to a decline in her reputation, and she seems rather
less read these days than a number of contemporaries. She only wrote three
novels, but many short stories. I own those as well, and will have to read some
of them next. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Catherine
Wheel</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> is her last completed novel, published
in 1952. The title is a double reference - both to the horrific method of
torture and execution associated with Saint Catherine, and to the firework.
Both of these are alluded to throughout the book, sometimes in a bit heavy
handed manner. The final tragedy of the story becomes a sort of blending of the
two images. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I mentioned the
use of the metaphors as the part of the book that I felt was a bit, not so much
preachy, but a bit much. That really is my only complaint about the book. The
writing overall is solid, and the inner lives of her two main characters are
superbly written. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Jean Stafford’s
writing in general is highly misanthropic. However, unlike many misanthropes
who consider themselves as superior than the rabble, or some such
self-righteous position, Stafford sets forth her argument that we are all this
bad. The loathing of humanity is also self-loathing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The plot
revolves around two main characters, who more or less alternate chapters from
their points of view. The two are linked by family relationships, but also by
their secrets and inner trauma. While they to a degree connect with each other,
their refusal to disclose these secrets while making assumptions about what the
other knows leads to profound isolation and compounded psychological
damage. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Katherine is a
middle-aged woman, who never married. As we find out, her parents took in an
orphaned young girl, Maeve, and the two of them grew up together. As young
women, both fell in love with John, who is a bit of a rich prick and definitely
unworthy. Everyone assumed he would marry Katherine, but he married Maeve
instead. Unrequited love has done a number on Katherine, although she keeps her
agony secret from everyone. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">From that union
came the other main character, Andrew, a young boy, who, with his older twin
sisters (Honor and Harriet) spends his summers at Katherine’s summer estate.
Andrew’s trauma is the loss of his best summer friend, Victor. On previous
summers, the two of them went everywhere together, and were best of friends. At
least from Andrew’s side, the obsession borders on sexual. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The problem is
that Victor’s love and adoration is for his older brother, Charles, who is in
the navy. When Charles gets gravely ill and has to convalesce for the summer at
home, Victor throws Andrew over so he can care for and fawn over his brother.
Like John, Charles is a total dick - arrogant, mean, vulgar - and unworthy of
emulation and admiration. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Andrew becomes
filled with hatred toward Charles, who has, as he sees it, stolen his friend.
As the book goes on, he becomes consumed with it, wishing Charles would die,
and half believing that he will indeed be able to kill Charles with his
thoughts. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the
meantime, Catherine has a significant shock. While it has been obvious that
Maeve and John are not happy together anymore, it turns out that the trip they
have taken in an attempt to rekindle the romance has failed. John writes
Catherine and says he is in love with her, and offers to take her away to live
on an island away from anyone they know. (Another man makes Catherine an offer,
which she finds even more vulgar than the one from John.) For Catherine, she
realizes John isn’t worth it, but is overwhelmed with her emotions to the point
of ordering a headstone. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Andrew and
Catherine are, in their own way, close to each other, but neither comes out and
states what is bothering them. Catherine assumes that Andrew has read her diary
and realized that she wanted to marry his father. Andrew hasn’t, and never puts
together the hints he has heard about the relationship. So, when Andrew asks
Catherine if hating someone enough to wish them dead could kill them, Catherine
assumes Andrew hates <i>her</i>, because of her desire for his father. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the
meantime, Andrew assumes that Catherine knows of his hatred for Charles, and
hates him for being such a bad person. Catherine could have picked up on this,
but she is too distracted by her own issues. They come so close to connecting
and revealing what is in their heads, but instead pass each other without
knowing, and thinking the other hates them. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The tragic
ending, as I noted, gets a bit heavy on the symbolism, and is rather
melodramatic. I believe that is a bit of a trademark for Stafford’s writing.
But up until that point, I thought the book was excellent - the paired
psychodrama is all too believable, and Stafford creates parallels throughout,
letting the twin narratives unwind and become increasingly entangled. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a
host of secondary characters which all contribute to the themes of alienation
and dark fantasies. Stafford isn’t particularly kind to her characters the way,
say, <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/11/the-optimists-daughter-by-eudora-welty.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Eudora Welty</span></a> or <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-golden-lion-of-granpere-by-anthony.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Anthony Trollope</span></a> are. Some of the descriptive
lines are quite cutting and even vicious. Check out this poisonous line. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was alarming and disarming and sad
to see how like that Edmund the young St. Denis was, limber and tall and fair,
his oval, olive face full of poetic and boyish solemnity that would go - oh,
how rapidly it would go! - when he had reached the man’s estate of real-estate
and fortune-building and surrender to the second best; when the skin-deep
college education or the <i>Wanderjahr</i> had paled like the tan of a winter
holiday and the mind was left to rust and blunt like a knife left out in the
rain and reflex replaced imagination. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s not a kind
picture of the future, but I bet we all know someone like that, who once seemed
full of imagination, but the gloss of education and experience never changed
them at a deep level, and by the time they are middle aged, their minds have
essentially rusted and blunted. Perhaps one reason for this ominous premonition
is the history of John. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A sigh like a sob shook her as she
thought how, in the end, the patience of her charm and her rigid rejection of
the second best had finally won her a Pyrrhic victory. For John Shipley,
grappling in his forties for his twenties, had been fooled by his needless need
and, greedy as Ponce de Leon, imagining a source of rejuvenation, a new start,
a rebirth, a second chance with no strings attached, had returned to her.
Except he did not look upon it as a return; he believed he was seeing her for
the first time and the bitterest pill of all the galling pills she had had to
swallow was the knowledge that he had scarcely been aware of her those years
ago but had only been impressed, snobbishly, by her situation as the only
daughter of a remarkable man in a showplace of a house. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, though, he <i>must</i> divorce his
wife, <i>must</i> marry Katherine, <i>must</i> - this is how he stated it -
“save himself.” <i>Must, ought</i>, words dear to the Puritan tongue telling
lies between its veiling teeth and coating the vile mendacities with an ethical
vocabulary. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That certainly
isn’t what Katherine had hoped for - there is something deeply insulting in
saying “I must marry you to save myself.” Yuck. Definitely not worth all those
years of pining.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The second
amorous proposal is likewise rather vulgar, as Katherine sees clearly. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was a gross and platitudinous
burlesque of John Shipley’s protestations, and the man was neither better nor
worse than John in his effort to struggle out of his boredom and his
disappointment in himself by pleading with her to build him a castle in Spain
and take him on a magic carpet to the end of the rainbow. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I think that
Stafford is on to something here. Leaving aside all of the fully defensible
reasons for leaving a marriage, there are too many that I know either
personally or professionally who left essentially out of boredom and the
mistaken belief that a new lover will rescue them from their ennui. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another
unpleasant character is Billy the blacksmith, who hates government and women
(particularly his wife.) One of these lines sounds so much like the toxic
masculinity crowd of our own time as well as their orange messiah. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Anything that was low or uncomfortable
or dishonest or ugly was, in Billy’s mind, either womanly or governmental and
he liked to confound the two abominable species by speaking of “all those women
in the White House and in Congress” and calling Mayor Curley “a damned
flapper.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are also,
fortunately, some lighter and humorous moments in an otherwise rather dark
book. I like this exchange as a few of the old folks are talking about the
young folks. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“And I repeat, I’d give my worldly
goods and all my expectations to be a kid again.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“I wouldn’t give a farthing,” snorted
Mr. Barker. “I like being old. Would you want to be sixteen again, Katherine?
Sweet sixteen and never been kissed?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">She shook her head and gasped, as he
had expected her to do, and said, “Lord, no! What an appalling thought!” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As I have been
wont to say, there is a price that could convince me to repeat my high school
years - and if you have to ask how high, you can’t afford it. No amount of
money could ever convince me to repeat my Jr. high years. Nope, nope, nope.
What an appalling thought. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is also a
moment where the officious doctor - who people think Katherine should marry -
engages in some truly egregious mansplaining. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But when she came back after seeing him
out she sharply fanned up the fire with the bellows as if she were attacking
someone and said, “Cut the stems indeed! I know of nothing that annoys me more
than to be instructed in matters I took in with my mother’s milk. The curse of
being female, Andrew, is that we must pretend to be quite incapable of grasping
the self-evident.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Katherine is
quick on the uptake about a lot of things, and she comes so close to realizing
what Andrew is feeling. Near the end of the book, the bored Andrew dresses up
in Katherine’s late father’s clothes, and she has a momentary flashback and
calls him John - the family resemblance strikes her. But Andrew too fails to
notice, even though Katherine is sure he grasped the significance. This line is
interesting to me:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One knew as much at twelve as one was
ever going to know. Even more perhaps, since at that age one was still,
philosophically if not practically, in a state of nature and could cleave
through the toughest tissues to the heart of the matter. Certainly she had
known, known even before she was twelve, how rickety was the scaffolding of her
parents’ marriage; she had proceeded from just such a slip of the tongue as she
had made to Andrew a little while ago, to the knowledge that her father had a
mistress. It had been through some process infinitely more direct than logic,
something instantaneous and unquestionable, that she had perceived that the
reason her father had often seemed to prefer Maeve was that Maeve was not the
daughter of his wife whom he did not love. Later, when he grew accustomed to
his guilt, he had begun to lavish on Katherine the fruits of his cool
heart. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s quite
the twist at the end. I must admit, I have long wondered why it was that my
parents made an instant bond with my sister in a way they never did with me,
and I remain unclear - there is no obvious reason, although perhaps as a
first-born child and a male I remind them of their difficulties with their own
first-born fathers and older brothers. (It definitely isn’t the same thing as
the one in the book, though.) It is interesting what kids know at age twelve,
to be sure. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have been
reading a lot of heavy books lately, so this one perhaps felt darker than it
would have otherwise. I am due to read some lighter fare (like, say, <i>Margaret
the First</i>) and clear my head before reading more Stafford - and I will read
some of her short stories next time. But I did find the writing and
storytelling compelling, and am a bit puzzled why she fell out of favor. Oh
well. At least a few of us are reading her still. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-80299466642184244112024-03-04T10:35:00.000-08:002024-03-04T10:35:23.705-08:00Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton<p> Source of book: Audiobook from the
library<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is a rather unusual book. It
is a fictionalized account of the life of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
Newcastle, and author. It is fictionalized in the sense that it is in the form
of a story, told partly in first person, and then in third person, from her
point of view. However, it takes no liberties with the facts as far as I can
tell - and indeed throughout the book, her own writing is quoted. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirsiLIinv0K6AtSIXdAjk-xUBTJXvXcYRzOIPbJMIeldYmhODends00cYISSvB2D3P-PvnAa4S3N2b9V5TrDWNkyM1P0BgMZ-niAce4LawNdRRMXN01E1wWjSE8ZsAxN3hqu66NQaiAlqHq1XqilZNFPkrK4shg3H-_CrKyZEzZaFUnbPy6qAaeYeaZDYB/s1000/Margaret%20the%20First.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="652" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirsiLIinv0K6AtSIXdAjk-xUBTJXvXcYRzOIPbJMIeldYmhODends00cYISSvB2D3P-PvnAa4S3N2b9V5TrDWNkyM1P0BgMZ-niAce4LawNdRRMXN01E1wWjSE8ZsAxN3hqu66NQaiAlqHq1XqilZNFPkrK4shg3H-_CrKyZEzZaFUnbPy6qAaeYeaZDYB/w261-h400/Margaret%20the%20First.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Margaret Cavendish was born in
1923 to a minor aristocratic family, who ended up siding with the Royalists
during the English Civil war. In her teens, she became a lady in waiting to
Queen Henrietta Marie, and followed her into exile in France. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">While there, she met her future
husband, William Cavendish, who was in exile (as a Royalist) and poverty. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">He was 30 years her senior, had
adult children her age, but, in a rather fascinating twist, their marriage
apparently was a true love match, with mutual respect and affection. He ended
up outliving her by a few years. The great sorrow of their life was her
infertility - more on that later.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Margaret Cavendish is not
remembered for her marriage, however, but for her writing, personality, and
flamboyant style. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In an era when few women wrote,
and even fewer wrote under their own names, she wrote extensively - plays,
memoirs, poetry, and fiction - and published them boldly. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">By her own account, her
infertility was a significant factor in her taking up writing. After years of
frankly bizarre and disgusting “treatments” by the doctors of the time, she and
William resigned themselves that she would never have children. It was a
disappointment to both of them. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Margaret found herself with a lot
of time on her hands, and very little to do. To alleviate her boredom, she
began to write, found she liked it, and devoted herself to it for the rest of
her life. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Margaret and William also ran in
literary and scientific circles. After the Restoration and return to his lands,
William became a significant patron of the arts, most notably sponsoring Ben
Jonson. The two of them kept up on the latest scientific papers together, and
she discusses them in her writings - in a few cases talking smack about
luminaries like Robert Boyle. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Margaret was the first woman ever
invited to the Royal Society - that great gathering of the scientific and
literary luminaries. Unfortunately, the second woman was not invited until 200
years later, which is a shame. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Of Margaret’s writings, probably
the most interesting is <i>The Blazing World</i>, a genre-blending work of
fiction that anticipates science fiction, and is considered the first work of
utopian fiction by a woman. I am going to try to track down a copy of
that. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Dutton’s fictionalized version is
a good read (or listen) in this case, bringing to life a rather extraordinary
woman, quite the character, radically feminist for her time, and with a unique
voice. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Because this was an audiobook, I
unfortunately do not have any quotes - although Margaret herself wrote some
real zingers. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I do want to mention some of the
things I found fascinating. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">First is the extended description
of the infertility treatments that Margaret endured - including various kinds
of shit smeared on her abdomen and used as vaginal suppositories. These are, by
the way, taken from her rather frank memoirs. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A note on that as well: our
current American prudery which continues to endure, even as its manifestation
changes, is more of a Victorian affectation than anything else. Even the
Puritans were able to talk about bodily functions without getting their panties
in a wad quite the way that we still do. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Another example of that is the
fashion of the era. 17th and 18th Century women - the aristocratic ones who
could afford fashion over function - went bare-breasted quite often. Doing so
was a sign, not of loose morals, but of <i>purity</i> and high social standing.
A young woman could signal her virginity - those unspoiled breasts - and older
women could demonstrate that they could afford a wet nurse rather than sully
her own breasts. It was considered far more <i>risque</i> to display an ankle
than a nipple.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is mentioned several times in
the book - Margaret had a tendency to ignore the niceties of fashion, and
occasionally showed too much at the wrong time of day - I won’t even pretend to
understand all the rules, but high-class fashion has always had arcane rules
and social punishments to those who fail to conform. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Significant cleavage was still
visible well into the Victorian era. Believe it or not, cleavage was in fashion
in the Islamic world during this time as well. In significant ways, certain
kinds of prudery are actually very modern. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But, I think it is important to
note that clothing fashions are deeply embedded in culture, and change
dramatically over time and place. There is no underlying rule that applies to
all places and times, regardless of what our <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/p/modesty-culture.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">modern day misogynists want to
believe</span></a></span>.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There is also a funny moment in
the book involving plays. When Margaret’s writing came out, many dismissed the
idea that she could have written them herself, and credited her husband. (They
did collaborate to a degree, and it is believed some of her plays were
co-written.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Later, when her literary
reputation was established, he published a play anonymously (although everyone
knew it was him), which the wags then attributed to her instead. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Margaret Cavendish is one of a
number of examples of women who lived unconventionally and fostered their own
talents. It is surely not a coincidence that these women tended to have
shockingly egalitarian marriages and supportive husbands. (See: <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2013/02/selected-poems-by-anne-bradstreet.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Anne Bradstreet</span></a></span>)
By all accounts, William and Margaret loved each other deeply, and respected
each other for their good character and kindness. Even in a hostile culture,
egalitarians have always found a way to thrive - both men and women do better
as equals rather than subordinates. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>Margaret the First</i> is a fun
book to read. It isn’t a typical biography, but it isn’t exactly fully
fictional either. Dutton brings to life a truly fascinating woman. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-86125895919690168892024-03-01T11:42:00.000-08:002024-03-01T11:42:51.030-08:00Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
Borrowed from the library</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is another
of NPR’s “beach read” suggestions - which goes to show that the folks at NPR
have interesting taste. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI5OlroN2NbM6sej4pmyJhjPaVTixKzw683e1EXL-6h8ohKXxlbDUWPANqW2HZlrRKV98c9NtbzSxHFINr0D3jq2K4RpzSQsS5G-oVoQfVV2gU7vgEZPQXSt2aY-dIvOOJa316wGTw-ymvYdB9oXOYHy4ijKSGZ02wsB7Gn-9zqApWSEi726ezv1hjCaW-/s1000/Diary%20of%20a%20Void.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="617" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI5OlroN2NbM6sej4pmyJhjPaVTixKzw683e1EXL-6h8ohKXxlbDUWPANqW2HZlrRKV98c9NtbzSxHFINr0D3jq2K4RpzSQsS5G-oVoQfVV2gU7vgEZPQXSt2aY-dIvOOJa316wGTw-ymvYdB9oXOYHy4ijKSGZ02wsB7Gn-9zqApWSEi726ezv1hjCaW-/s320/Diary%20of%20a%20Void.jpg" width="197" /></a></span></div><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Diary of a Void</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
is translated from Japanese, and the title itself is a pun that doesn’t
translate into English. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Also a bit lost
in translation for us Americans is the culture - parents in Japan get a full
year of paid parental leave after a child is born. This, of course, sounds
practically insane to Americans, where the best you can hope for in most states
is three months of <i>unpaid</i> leave. My home state of California is a bit
better - parents get eight weeks of partial pay in untaxed dollars, so a wash
for most people. But <i>nothing</i> like a full year. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So, back to the
title. Japan also makes available to expectant parents a handbook and diary,
called a <i>Boshi Techo</i>, which roughly means “Maternal and Child Health
Handbook.” The Japanese title of the book is <i>Kushin Techo</i>, substituting
“empty core” for “mother and child.” Hence, <i>Diary of a Void</i>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The premise of
the book is that Ms. Shibata (she never gets a first name) has left her old job
due to sexual harassment, only to find that at her new job, she is expected to
do a lot of menial tasks in addition to her regular job - picking up trash,
making the coffee for everyone - because she is a woman. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In order to
avoid this, she claims she is pregnant and that the coffee makes her morning
sick. This allows her to avoid these unpaid “women’s work” tasks, go home at
five rather than work overtime, and be treated better in general. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The problem:
she isn’t pregnant. She’s also single and hasn’t had a date in years. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rather than
admit she made things up, she starts padding her belly, taking maternity
aerobics, eating better food, and logging her days in the diary mentioned
above. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A strange thing
happens along the way, though. She starts having actual pregnancy symptoms, and
even gets an ultrasound which reveals a fetus - but with a blurry face. A void,
one might say. The book never really resolves at the end. Did she give birth? And
to what? We never know for sure. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Along the way,
the incidents of the book reveal the casual everyday sexism that women have to
put up with, not just in Japan, but pretty much everywhere. And also the way
that men are more deferent to pregnant women - perhaps because she is filing
that expected role as mother. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The incident
that starts the book off really made me laugh, because my wife had a very
similar incident at work. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This guy (who I
won’t come close to identifying) was dropping hints around my wife that she
needed to make him some coffee. He would carry the empty carafe around, looking
at it forlornly. She never bailed him out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the book,
there is an even more ludicrous twist: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What seemed of greatest concern to my
bosses, rather than when I could clock out, was the question of the coffee. Who
would make it? Who was going to deal with the cups? Where was the milk? They
asked me to type up step-by-step instructions. One day, when I wasn’t around,
they had a meeting in which it was decided that a young guy who’d started right
out of college would be in charge of the coffee.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Hey, this isn’t so bad!” he exclaimed
as I showed him what to do. You’re right about that, I said back. That’s why
it’s called instant coffee.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yeah. Instant
coffee needs instructions. As they say, Strategic Incompetence. In another
incident, the narrator describes the other expected tasks.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No one ever told me I had to do these
things. But if I didn’t take care of it, sooner or later there’d be a little
comment.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Hey…Microwave?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My name’s not Microwave.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another
interesting question was raised when Shibata ends up walking home late, and
muses on what would happen if she got mugged. Her bag contained her cell phone
and apartment keys. How would she get back in? How would she call someone with
no money or phone? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While pregnancy
gains her some care from others, there are also the annoyances, like the guys
who ask if they can touch her bump. Or don’t even ask. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As time goes by
and she gets used to her “pregnancy,” she wonders what her child will look
like. And also wonders:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As I wrote in my notebook, I wondered:
How many other imaginary children were there in the world? And where are they
now? What were they doing? I hoped they were leading happy lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is the
kind of blurred lines that get ever more blurring as the book progresses. There
is also the question of what makes a family. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Maybe that’s what making a family is
all about: creating an environment in which people make space for one another -
maybe without even trying, just naturally, to make sure nobody’s
forgotten. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As an
idealization of a family, that’s pretty attractive. It sounds a bit like the
line in <i>Lilo and Stitch</i>: “Family means nobody gets left behind or
forgotten.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I will admit I
felt some pain reading that line. Once, I used to feel that way about my birth
family - there was space for me, space for all of us. But I was rudely shocked
to discover that there was <i>not</i> space for my wife, and never would be.
Once she left, there was no attempt to get her back or repair things, just
silence and gaslighting that it was all my fault. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Making space in
this case is related to the void. Shibata is making space in herself
for…nothing. Or is there something. At the ultrasound, Shibata is
stunned. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There was a baby in there. It had a
place in the world. It had taken its own form, a human form. Out of nothing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is an
epilogue twelve months after the birth - or whatever it turned out to be - we
never see that part and never find out - Shibata is invited to a job fair where
she is supposed to praise the company’s family policies. She has a snarky
observation, though. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m at a job fair today. This panel,
“Balancing Your Career and Your Life,” is offered specifically to women, as if
work-life balance is something only women need to consider. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Years ago, one
of our local judges mentioned this issue, opining that our society has
normalized men neglecting their children. She was, unfortunately, right about
that. Men do not get asked how they balance work and family. Men do not get the
stink eye if they work late every night. And so on. It is <i>normal</i> for a
man to neglect his children, and expect his wife to pick up the slack. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And the flip
side is that if a man does <i>not</i> neglect his children, but splits
childcare and breadwinning with his wife (as I have done since we had kids),
she gets blamed for taking on work so that dad can see his kids more. It’s
lose-lose for women. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For the most
part, this book avoids being preachy. It gently addresses sexism through
incident. The secondary theme of the book is social isolation, something I have
seen so much in modern Japanese literature. Perhaps they are being more honest
about it than we Americans are, with our idolization of “Rugged
Individualism™.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Shibata makes
some temporary connections with other pregnant women at the aerobics class, and
an awkward friendship with a married co-worker, but in the end, it still feels
like she is alone. Her imaginary child isn’t the only void in her life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Diary of a Void</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
is a fascinating book. It’s short and quick and easy to read, but thought
provoking in a way that few beach reads are. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-45805281046793170982024-02-29T15:12:00.000-08:002024-02-29T15:12:39.859-08:00Spleen and Ideal by Charles Baudelaire<p><
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
I own this</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One of the
books I found at Powell’s on our trip to the Portland area was a translation of
<i>The Flowers of Evil</i>. This version contains both the original French and
the English translation by Richard Howard. As I also discovered, it contains
additional poems, so essentially the complete poems of Baudelaire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In light of
this, and the fact that <i>The Flowers of Evil</i> was meant to be Baudelaire’s
version of his collected poems, I decided not to read the entire thing at once,
but in pieces, so that I can enjoy it over time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOL9IJd4CeTPP6AvivIbnI4kkelTBJCvNrL2ghXFLfVbTLJ_eMuNY7exRXkFsxNAFlzG2zbIxExYfA6V0K9zGRuILtMUbo5ZxkU4C_HVLBYnS0VtTygGc4HsEhpcmL1bux2yoYEsO0E6uN-zJvIR2jZPrwYMo9nQdt9ftgqrS-OOje1lVCjMJYJJzfXpJa/s1274/The%20Flowers%20of%20Evil.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1274" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOL9IJd4CeTPP6AvivIbnI4kkelTBJCvNrL2ghXFLfVbTLJ_eMuNY7exRXkFsxNAFlzG2zbIxExYfA6V0K9zGRuILtMUbo5ZxkU4C_HVLBYnS0VtTygGc4HsEhpcmL1bux2yoYEsO0E6uN-zJvIR2jZPrwYMo9nQdt9ftgqrS-OOje1lVCjMJYJJzfXpJa/w235-h400/The%20Flowers%20of%20Evil.jpg" width="235" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The first and
largest section of the work is entitled <i>Spleen and Ideal</i>, and contains
87 poems, which is plenty to digest at a time. Supposedly, it is meant to be a
cycle of erotic ecstasy and anguish, but I found its topics to be too varied to
neatly fit in that category. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The art of
translation is a tricky one, and compromises have to be made, unfortunately.
(See my <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2012/02/inferno-by-dante-alighieri.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">discussion of <i>Inferno</i> </span></a>for more on the
various approaches.) Although I do not know French pronunciation much at all, I
at least parsed the French versions of some of the poems to compare form. They
clearly have rhymes and a rhythm of sorts. It is my understanding that French isn’t
accented the same way English is, so syllables are more important than lining
up the accents into feet. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Howard does his
best to preserve the lines intact, and preserve the syllable counts. He does
not attempt to rhyme, however. This gives the poems a certain feel that
definitely is not that of free verse, but not quite the normal cadence of
formal rhymed poetry. A little research revealed that Howard’s own poetry uses
this technique - that of using syllable counts rather than accents for his
metre. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus, there is
no exact equivalent to the original feel of the poems, as good as they are.
Such is the nature of translation, unfortunately. Despite the necessary
compromises, I found Howard’s translation to be delightfully musical and
free-flowing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The poems are
mostly shorter, and many appear to be sonnets, although the rhyme schemes vary,
and are rarely identifiable as either Petrarchan or Shakespearean in form. For
example, the two quatrains would be rhymed ABAB as in a Shakespearean sonnet,
but instead of the third quatrain and couplet, there is a pair of tercets
rhymed in one of the accepted Petrarchan schemes. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Flowers of
Evil</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> caused a huge scandal at the time, due
to its overt sexuality, irreverent approach to death, and references to
lesbianism. I didn’t get to any of the lesbian poems - those are in a different
section - but I did read several of the poems that were censored. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What is kind of
weird is that I didn’t think that the censored ones were any more racy than
others which were permitted. And certainly nothing in them is any naughtier
than the stuff John Donne wrote two centuries earlier, and they do not even
approach the bawdiness of Shakespeare, let alone Chaucer. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a lot
of other themes in the work, not just love and sex. Baudelaire explores what he
felt was the corruption of the industrial revolution and the rise of urbanism.
He muses on the changing roles of women, with some poems sounding quite progressive,
and others pretty misogynistic, unfortunately. Like so many poets before and
since, he contrasts sacred and profane love, considers death, and glorifies
wine and song. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One of the
fascinating and unique characteristics of the poems is that, while most poets
focus on the senses of sight, hearing, and touch, Baudelaire features the sense
of smell. Everything from perfume to flowers to body odor make it into his
lyrics, and he shows the same ability to find unexpected and evocative words to
bring those smells to life that other poets have for scenes. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Also
interesting about this collection is that Baudelaire apparently adored cats.
There are numerous poems about cats, a few of which I will feature in this
post. As a lifelong cat lover myself, I can tell that he had a fondness and
fascination with them - and a keen eye for their quirks. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was very
difficult to choose which poems to feature because so many of them spoke to me,
but I have done my best to cull them to a reasonable number. I would definitely
recommend <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fleurs-Du-Mal-Charles-Baudelaire/dp/0879234628"><span style="color: #1155cc;">getting this book</span></a>, and spending some leisurely
time reading and re-reading each poem. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I had to quote
the opening poem, “To the Reader,” because it captures the wry, pessimistic,
and scandalous tone of the work so well. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To the Reader</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Stupidity, delusion, selfishness and
lust</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Torment our bodies and possess our
minds</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And we sustain our affable remorse</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The way a beggar nourishes his lice.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our sins our stubborn, our contrition
lame;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We want our scruples to be worth our
while -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How cheerfully we crawl back to the
mire:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A few cheap tears will wash our stains
away!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Satan Trismegistus subtly rocks</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our ravished spirits on his wicked bed</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Until the precious metal of our will</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is leached out by this cunning
alchemist</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Devil’s hand directs our every move
-</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The things we loathed become the things
we love;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Day by day we drop through stinking
shades</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Quite undeterred on our descent to
Hell.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like a poor profligate who sucks and
bites</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The withered breast of some
well-seasoned trull,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We snatch in passing at clandestine
joys</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And squeeze the oldest orange harder
yet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Wriggling in our brains like a million
worms,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A demon demos holds its revels there,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And when we breathe, the Lethe in our
lungs</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Trickles sighing on its secret course.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If rape and arson, poison and the knife</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Have not yet stitched their ludicrous
designs</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Onto the banal buckram of our fates,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is because our souls lack
enterprise!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But here among the scorpions and the
hounds,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The jackals, apes and vultures, snakes
and wolves,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Monsters that howl and growl and squeal
and crawl,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In all the squallid zoo of vices, one</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is even uglier and fouler than the
rest,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Although the least flamboyant of the
lot;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This beast would gladly undermine the
earth</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And swallow all creation in a yawn;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I speak of Boredom which with ready
tears</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dreams of hangings as it puffs its
pipe.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Reader, you know this squeamish monster
well,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hypocrite reader, - my alias, - my
twin!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Perhaps a
warning shot across the bow of the reader’s skiff: you may look down your nose
at the vice portrayed in this collection, but you know it is in your heart
too. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I also loved
seeing “Trismegistus” on a page again. For those of us who loved <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2014/06/tristram-shandy-by-laurence-sterne.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Tristram Shandy</span></a>, we recall that the narrator
of that book was supposed to be named Trismegistus (meaning “thrice-greatest”
and applied to Hermes), but mistakes were made, and he had to settle for being
the namesake of a knight of the Round Table instead. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Next up is a
more conventional lyrical poem, but with a definite undertone of existential
dread. As one who loves to escape the city and hike up mountains, I agree with
Baudelaire here - while I prefer to live in the city for a variety of reasons,
my heart is in the mountains, with the clean air and flowers and the feeling
you can touch the sky. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Elevation</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Above the lake in the valley and the
grove</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Along the hillside, high over the sea</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And the passing clouds, and even past
the sun!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To the farthest confines of the starry
vault</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Mount, my spirit, wander at your ease</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And range exultant through transparent
space</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like a rugged swimmer reveling in the
waves</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With an unutterable male delight</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ascend beyond the sickly atmosphere</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To a higher plane, and purify yourself</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By drinking as if it were ambrosia</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The file that fills and fuels
Emptiness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Free from the futile strivings and the
cares</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Which dim existence to a realm of mist,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Happy is he who wings in an upward way</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On mighty pinions to the fields of
light;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Whose thoughts like larks spontaneously
rise</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Into the morning sky; whose flight,
unchecked,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Outreaches life and readily
comprehends </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The language of flowers and of all mute
things.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I decided I
wanted to mention one of the longer poems, “Guiding Lights,” which is mostly a
set of four-line tributes to various painters, from Rubens to Goya. Three
closing quatrains offer paeans to art, describing it as humankind’s offering to
the Divine. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll quote the
one to Delacroix, one of my favorite artists, and often underrated - they are
best seen in person, in my opinion, where the careful use of color draws the
eye around the narrative contained on the canvas. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Delacroix</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Evil angels haunt this lake of blood</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Darkened by the green shade of the
firs,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Where under a stricken sky the
trumpet-calls</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like a fanfare by Weber fade away…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Next up is one
of the sonnets, rather dark, but with incredible imagery. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Enemy</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My youth was nothing but a lowering
storm</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Occasionally lanced by sudden suns;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Torrential rains have done their work
so well</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That no fruit ripens in my garden now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Already the autumn of ideas has come,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And I must dig and rake and dig again</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If I am to reclaim the flooded soil</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Collapsing into holes the size of
graves.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I dream of new flowers, but who can
tell</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If this eroded swamp of mine affords</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The mystic nourishment on which they
thrive…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Time consumes existence pain by pain</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And the hidden enemy that gnaws our
heart</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Feeds on the blood we lose, and
flourishes!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I particularly
love how he flips the images of sun and rain. Sun lances suddenly (like a
rainstorm), while the usual nourishing rain has desiccated his garden. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This next one
expresses the truth that, while some art endures, there must be so much more
that never saw the light, whether because it was not recognized, or because the
artist never had the time or support to create it at all. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Artist Unknown</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Flesh is willing, but the Soul requires</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sisyphean
patience for its song.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Time, Hippocrates remarked, is short</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
Art is long.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No illustrious tombstones ornament</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
lonely churchyard where I often go</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To hear my heart, a muffled drum,
parade</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Incognito.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">‘Many a gem,’ the poet mourns, abides</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Forgotten
in the dust</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Unnoticed
there;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">‘Many a rose’ regretfully
confides </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
secret of its scent</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>To
empty air.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a
sequence of poems (17-20) that muse on love and female beauty. These are, shall
we say, not the most conventional. This one is my favorite. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Ideal</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My heart is closed to belles in
curlicues,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Those worshipped beauties of a shopworn
age</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When fingers were for spinets and when
feet</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Wore out six pairs of silver-buckled
shoes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I leave to Gavarni, anemia’s laureate,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">His twittering flock of insubstantial
girls - </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In all those sallow blossoms who could
find</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One rose to reconcile my read ideal?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This heart is cavernous and it requires</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lady Macbeth and an aptitude for crime,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Some Aeschylean flower of the South,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Or Michelangelo’s great daughter,
Night,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Who slumbrously contorts the marble
charms</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He carved to satiate a titan’s mouth.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So far, these
are not too far out there. This next one definitely is. Baudelaire combines
young love and rotting flesh, throwing in stink, flowers, prostitution,
sunshine, and death. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Carrion</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Remember, my soul, the thing we saw</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
lovely summer day?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On a pile of stones where the path
turned off,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
hideous carrion -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Legs in the air, like a whore -
displayed</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Indifferent
to the last,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A belly slick with lethal sweat</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
swollen with foul gas.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The sun lit up that rottenness </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
though to roast it through,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Restoring to Nature a hundredfold</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
she had here made one.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And heaven watched the splendid corpse</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Like
a flower open wide -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You nearly fainted dead away</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At
the perfume it gave off</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Flies kept humming over the guts</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>From
which a gleaming clot</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of maggots poured to finish off</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What
scraps of flesh remained.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The tide of trembling vermin sank,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then
bubbled up afresh</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As if the carcass, drawing breath,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>By
<i>their</i> lives lived again</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And made a curious music there -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Like
running water, or wind,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Or the rattle of chaff the winnower</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Loosens
in his fan.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Shapeless - nothing was left but a
dream</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
artist had sketched in,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Forgotten, and only later on</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Finished
from memory.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Behind the rocks an anxious bitch</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Eyed
us reproachfully,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Waiting for the chance to resume</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Her
interrupted feast.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">- Yet you will come to this offense,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
horrible decay,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You, the light of my life, the sun</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And
moon and stars of my love!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes, you will come to this, my queen,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
the sacraments,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When you rot underground among</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
bones already there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But as their kisses eat you up,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My
Beauty, tell the worms</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ve kept the sacred essence, saved</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
form of my rotted loves!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This next poem
takes its name from a motto of Queen Elizabeth I - “Semper Eadem” - always the
same (with a feminine word gender.) There is a bit of irony in the title
considering the content of the poem.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Semper Eadem</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">‘You’re like some rock the sea is
swallowing -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What is it that brings on these moods
of yours?’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Nothing mysterious: the ordinary pain</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of being alive. You wouldn’t
understand,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Though it’s as obvious as that smile of
yours:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">An open secret. Nothing ever grows,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Once the heart is harvested . . . You
ask</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Too many questions. No more talking
now,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My prying ignoramus, no more words,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">However sweet your voice. You call it
Life,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But Death is what binds us, and by
subtler bonds…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Come here. The only lie that comforts
me</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is the refuge of those lashes - let me
sink</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Into the silent fiction of your eyes!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While there is
often a thorn hidden in every rose, there are a few that are just sweet. I
think this one expresses how I feel about my wife pretty well. Okay, except for
the part about the Devil, because he has never popped in to ask that
question. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Altogether</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Devil it must have been</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Why came to my room this morning</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And, trying to catch me out,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Insisted I answer his question:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">‘Among the miracles</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Her spell over you comprises -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Among the black or pink</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Objects composing her body -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Which is dearest?’ My soul </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Responded thus to the Demon:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">‘No single part is best,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For each in its way is a solace,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And if the Whole enthralls,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is any detail the seducer?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">She dazzles like the dawn</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And like the darkness consoles me;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Too close the harmony </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That governs her lovely body</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For reason to divide </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One rapture from another;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My senses all are fused</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By subtle transformation -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Her breathing makes a song,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As her voice emits a fragrance!’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If that one is
a bit too full of treacle for you, balance it with this gem.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Incubus</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Eyes glowing like an angel’s</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll come back to your bed</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And reach for you from the shadows:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You won’t hear a thing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On your dark skin my kisses </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Will be colder than moonlight:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Caresses of a snake crawling</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Round an open grave.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When the morning whitens</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You find no one beside you:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The place cold all day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Others by fondness prevail </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Over your life, your youth:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I leave it to fear. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The caress of a
snake crawling round an open grave. That’s delicious. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To end this
post, I figured I would feature some cat poems. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Cat</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Come here, kitty - sheathe your claws!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lie on my loving heart</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And let me sink into your eyes</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of agate fused with steel. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When my fingers freely caress </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Your head and supple spine</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And my hand thrills to the touch</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of your electric fur,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My mistress comes to mind. Her gaze -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Cold and deep as yours,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My pet - is like a stab of pain,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And from head to heels </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A subtle scent, a dangerous perfume,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rises from her brown flesh. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The details are
the key to this poem - he knows cats. As a sonnet, it is fascinating too: you
can see the parallels between the first part (the cat) and the second (the
woman) - eyes, sensation, for or flesh, and the threat of a stabbing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Cat</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As if he owned the place, a cat</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Meanders through my mind,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sleek and proud, yet so discrete</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In making known his will</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That I hear music when he mews,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And even when he purrs</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A tender timbre in the sound</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Compels my consciousness - </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A secret rhythm penetrates</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To unsuspected depths,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Obsessive as a line of verse</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And potent as a drug:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All woes are spirited away,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I hear ecstatic news -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It seems a telling language has</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No need of words at all.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My heart, assenting instrument,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is masterfully played;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No other bow across its strings</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Can draw such music out</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The way this cat’s uncanny voice</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">- seraphic, alien -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Can reconcile discordant strains</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Into close harmony!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One night his brindled fur gave off</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A perfume so intense</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I seemed to be embalmed because</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(just once) I fondled him…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Familiar spirit, genius, judge,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The cat presides - inspires</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Events that he appears to spurn,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Half goblin and half god! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And when my spellbound eyes at last</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Relinquish worship of </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This cat they love to contemplate</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And look inside myself,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I find to my astonishment</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like living opals there</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">His fiery pupils, embers which</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Observe me fixedly. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yeah, he is a
bit besotted, I would say. But cats are, as Death said, nice, and one of the
reasons to keep living. Finally, let’s end with this sonnet. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Cats</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lovers, scholars - the fervent, the
austere -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Grow equally fond of cats, their
household pride.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As sensitive as either to the cold,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As sedentary, though so strong and
sleek,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Your cat, a friend to learning and to
love,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Seeks out both silence and the awesome
dark…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hell would have made the cat its
courier </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Could it have controverted feline
pride!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dozing, all cats assume the svelte
design</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of desert sphinxes sprawled in
solitude,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Apparently transfixed by endless
dreams;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Their teeming loins are rich in magic
sparks,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And golden specks like infinitesimal
sand</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Glisten in those enigmatic eyes. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There you have
it - clearly a cat lover. I often have a cat cuddling me when I read in the evenings - we have three indoor cats that vie for my attention, so it depends on who gets there first. The others will drape themselves about the bed, or go find one of the kids to snuggle. <br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here is our half-grown kitten (rescued from an engine compartment at WalMart, of all places...):</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMny-xAmyyGWlfIVfPDo0_8xTsZbeeokxdX5d5-uAjnVMWvti8pq0jLmcEaekjtICsU4cZwJsjEQ3BBPLSL6UyXH6Jwze6FZAOfQiesZqPzORv3snTqDMFwzE1g88-t5zeJqQIXSfZ0gQ0Epmhdt-S6cAdia-ZWjkZjHwqCG14DSyd2vyGOlU1UiVxdHjy/s2000/Kippers%20snuggles%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMny-xAmyyGWlfIVfPDo0_8xTsZbeeokxdX5d5-uAjnVMWvti8pq0jLmcEaekjtICsU4cZwJsjEQ3BBPLSL6UyXH6Jwze6FZAOfQiesZqPzORv3snTqDMFwzE1g88-t5zeJqQIXSfZ0gQ0Epmhdt-S6cAdia-ZWjkZjHwqCG14DSyd2vyGOlU1UiVxdHjy/w303-h400/Kippers%20snuggles%202.jpg" width="303" /></a></span></div><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /> <br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I look forward
to reading the rest of the collection in the future. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p> </p>Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-41197702042763836162024-02-28T13:24:00.000-08:002024-02-28T13:24:44.924-08:00The Crucible (Bakersfield Community Theatre 2024)<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-crucible-by-arthur-miller.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I already wrote about reading <i>The
Crucible</i></span></a></span> back when my eldest was in high school. Most of
what I would have said about the play itself is contained in that post, so I
will try not to repeat myself in this one. Instead, I will focus on this
particular production at Bakersfield Community Theatre, which was excellent in
every facet. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">[Other note: I do not generally go
back and change past posts, as they are kind of like a diary for me. That
particular post was written in 2019, before my eldest came out to us as
transgender, so the pronouns are all wrong. My apologies, and please fill in
“he/him” where needed. On a definitely related note, since that post was
written, the MAGA cult has pivoted to targeting transgender people in their
ongoing witch hunts, which, if I were writing that post now, I would definitely
have mentioned.]<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The main reason I decided to go
see this play is that a number of friends were in it, and I always love to see
friends making the world a better place through their art. While I may be
prejudiced in favor of those dear to me, I think that they are great at what
they do, and bring a definite passion and love to the parts they play. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Let me start with mentioning the
set, built of raw lumber, which nodded in the direction of the scaffold (both
the building sort, and the hanging sort), flanked by stylized trees -
deconstructed trees, one might say. It is one of the more creative low-budget
designs I have seen, and worked perfectly with the play. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As a side note here, while I
appreciate a good high-budget set - I’ll call out <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/11/omar-by-rhiannon-giddens-and-michael.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Omar</span></i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> at the San Francisco Opera</span></a></span>
as a recent favorite - there is something particularly impressive about what
small local theaters are able to do on an absolute shoestring. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The director, Cathy Henry, is part
of the knitting group my wife is in, and has decades of experience in theater.
Her role <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2018/10/my-fair-lady-by-lerner-and-loewe-empty.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">My Fair Lady</span></i></a></span>
some years ago was part of one of the best local productions in my memory. What
she did with <i>The Crucible</i> was equally impressive. The pacing had
momentum but was never rushed. The diction was always clear and understandable.
The vision for the story really came through. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are a lot of parts in this
play, and every one of them is important in some way. I was pleasantly
surprised that I can’t really think of a weak part - even the child parts were
well acted. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I won’t mention every part in this
post, but for any of you who might run across this review and don’t see your
name specifically mentioned, I am sorry about the omission, and props to you
for your fine job. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The central character, of course,
is John Proctor. As part of the liberties Arthur Miller took with the actual
facts, he is portrayed as a young farmer, married with children. In history, he
was actually nearly 60, and on his third wife by that time. (Dang maternal
death rates.) His paramour in the play, Abigail Williams, was 11 or 12 in real
life, not 17, and the affair which Miller writes into the play is a pure
fabrication for dramatic purposes. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">John Proctor was played by Nick
Ono, who has become jack-of-all-stage-trades these days - he acts, he sings, he
dances, he choreographs, and several other things I have forgotten. I have been
watching him for a number of years now, and have seen his growth as an artist.
This role was a demanding one, with an absurd number of lines, a full range of
emotions, and the central conflicts of guilt and integrity and the navigation
of impossible situations. The performance was excellent and compelling. Ono
truly inhabited the character, and owned the stage whenever he was on it. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJ8dizGR-EwzocKdO_LviKjOB6Z16mroAmEWkIW_MCgC4cCKwPicCbuLUWOLK8Xud3UxDGYBOvi2hik0Eavyx0Gt6oT-9xp3CoTVuHqky9UerpQKn7IX2xipEHwjrYrTLKdQBlwExmbcnFNjP9NTi03AEybQi1ds5MNs0mksHsjb_rw7UJ5rPyjC-EY3a/s2048/Crucible%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJ8dizGR-EwzocKdO_LviKjOB6Z16mroAmEWkIW_MCgC4cCKwPicCbuLUWOLK8Xud3UxDGYBOvi2hik0Eavyx0Gt6oT-9xp3CoTVuHqky9UerpQKn7IX2xipEHwjrYrTLKdQBlwExmbcnFNjP9NTi03AEybQi1ds5MNs0mksHsjb_rw7UJ5rPyjC-EY3a/w400-h266/Crucible%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">John Proctor (Nick Ono)<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I hadn’t seen Petra Garibay on
stage before, but her portrayal of Elizabeth Proctor was another highlight. It
is also a challenging part, because it is all too easy, given the script, to
see her as either the innocent wronged wife, or as the cold fish unable to love
John. To see her as both of those, and neither of those, and hold it in tension
requires a vision for the character. Garibay made Elizabeth sympathetic, but in
a realistic way. She is not the saint John claims she is, and has her own inner
demons, but her underlying love and loyalty to John combined with great
chemistry with Ono truly sold the idea that they still loved each other. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDwbs927FojtvP196Uxzg8QbkUlOhcsRPc0UIDfBQjnBlkyiGtMl1qjRGTw4E1Cfe-5XHsLhSwuWtVVQ8-Q0JjiaDqNzHmbS-29YqHOx9Rh0LkgZWfVgmO0QsbJMlNlLNwIxlp1DepOakeKsw9zqAv8D1Of61gynVkz5UT4-fMogU0eAR4LohySj8mXzuD/s2048/Crucible%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDwbs927FojtvP196Uxzg8QbkUlOhcsRPc0UIDfBQjnBlkyiGtMl1qjRGTw4E1Cfe-5XHsLhSwuWtVVQ8-Q0JjiaDqNzHmbS-29YqHOx9Rh0LkgZWfVgmO0QsbJMlNlLNwIxlp1DepOakeKsw9zqAv8D1Of61gynVkz5UT4-fMogU0eAR4LohySj8mXzuD/w400-h266/Crucible%203.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Elizabeth Proctor (Petra Garibay)<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The role of Abigail Williams is
another complicated one. On the one hand, she is a lying, manipulative
psychopath as written in the play. Unlike the real-life young girls who were
caught up in lies to escape punishment only to see the moral panic escalate to
absurdity, the fictional Abigail is pretty clearly a major player more than
willing to murder her lover’s wife and eventually him if he refuses to be with
her. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But it is equally important that
her relationship with Proctor be plausible in order for the frisson to work. If
she is just a skank who manipulates him into sleeping with her, he either has
to be a weaker character than he is shown to be, or his genuine conflict
between the women who love him and his hesitation to ruin her rings
false. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Lindsay Pearson is a veteran actor
in local theater, and, looking back on my previous posts, her style is
definitely tightly wound, with a sharp edge. This certainly brought out the
psychopath side of the character out - you could feel her willingness to kill
to get what she wants. I was a little less convinced about the chemistry
between her and Proctor, for the same reason, but that may just be a question
of taste. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtgHl4a69ELFyx7l8LBLhyphenhyphenO-23AAMx2GwxiQF6AjNUE8MFOE1ip_QeptygZIRJxYKOCsjiGy2RVkWqMRu_0XqgQMSPDDznlqxicuRNglRTNL3mpw54VUzeUT2HJnGHBiGWcUQQ5iTWd3tokq7MiYEdxhr1aRsrdVBVs093B_VB0q2lNDV57z1a9FvTvFS/s2048/Crucible%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYtgHl4a69ELFyx7l8LBLhyphenhyphenO-23AAMx2GwxiQF6AjNUE8MFOE1ip_QeptygZIRJxYKOCsjiGy2RVkWqMRu_0XqgQMSPDDznlqxicuRNglRTNL3mpw54VUzeUT2HJnGHBiGWcUQQ5iTWd3tokq7MiYEdxhr1aRsrdVBVs093B_VB0q2lNDV57z1a9FvTvFS/w400-h266/Crucible%204.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From left</span><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">: Reverend Hale (Gary Enns), Giles Corey (Stephen Overstreet), the three girls, Abigail Williams at center (Lindsay Pearson), Mary Warren (Callie Stein-Wayne), John Proctor (Nick Ono)<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">One of the interesting facets of <i>The
Crucible</i> is that, while there is a clear hero, there are many villains,
each of which has competing and often mutually exclusive goals and motivations.
The first one we meet is Reverend Parris, played by my friend from book club,
Josh Evans, who has never fit in in his new job, and who is afraid that the
revelations of witchcraft will ruin him. He is, perhaps, the most sympathetic
of the villains - he is weak and spineless, selfish and grasping, but his
villainy is self-protective, not malicious. Evans is always a pleasure to watch
- his portrayal of Richard in <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/12/the-lion-in-winter-by-james-goldman-bct.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Lion in Winter</span></i></a></span>
was likewise excellent, and I loved his version of Parris, which captured all
of his weakness and entitlement. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Although Miller doesn’t give him
that much stage time, arguably the worst villain in real life was Thomas
Putnam, who carefully used his accusations of witchcraft to murder his rivals
and plunder their property. Ed French, who I have mostly seen in r<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2021/11/girls-kill-nazis-empty-space-2021.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">oles as a good guy</span></a></span>,
made use of his limited lines to seem appropriately slimy. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Gary Enns gave a good turn as
Reverend Hale, the all-too-credulous witch hunter, whose enthusiasm at the
beginning turns to horror as the town starts to feed on its most devout and
decent citizens. He truly felt like a man with good intentions, but phenomenally
poor judgment. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The arch-villain, though, the one
who is arguably the most evil, is Governor Danforth. By the end of the play, he
knows everyone is innocent, but, having gone as far as he has, he decides to
complete the hanging (including of John Proctor and Goody Nurse) of innocents
rather than admit he was wrong. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Danforth was played by my legal
colleague Patrick Carrick, who memorized most of his lines <i>before</i> the
audition, to get a head start in case he got the part. That’s such a lawyer
thing to do, and the kind of professionalism Carrick always shows on stage. We
had a fun discussion about the role afterward. His was a good performance,
stuffy and self-important, arbitrary and inconsistent, and entirely believable.
I mean, every lawyer has encountered at least one judge like that, although I
am not naming names. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXzEkgO0FbflL7oxdEKH8pJyhR8LmDikXJI14h5vtA_jn9S5bVVLOgAj1iltp-nSgVrOLxX53jV3OMRhsblJUtJy6DNGK5FgR8ZTZey2soylZxKQiOpsQqMdv2uUQTWp3bZYJUHI9SpYSK9alY7I33_PrIs51jtVRjv7rFdNtQKsynWWztGTUjc63HCvI/s2048/Crucible%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXzEkgO0FbflL7oxdEKH8pJyhR8LmDikXJI14h5vtA_jn9S5bVVLOgAj1iltp-nSgVrOLxX53jV3OMRhsblJUtJy6DNGK5FgR8ZTZey2soylZxKQiOpsQqMdv2uUQTWp3bZYJUHI9SpYSK9alY7I33_PrIs51jtVRjv7rFdNtQKsynWWztGTUjc63HCvI/w400-h266/Crucible%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Giles Corey (Stephen Overstreet), Reverend Hale (Gary Enns), Francis Nurse (Tim Fromm), Reverend Parris (Josh Evans), Governor Danforth (Patrick Carrick)<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I’ll mention a few other friends.
Sofia Reyes, another book club member, played Goody Nurse, and brought out the
true surprise to be accused of things she would never dream. The real life
woman is a demonstration of the truth that most accused “witches” were older
women who had careers, often as healers and midwives. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Callie Stein-Wayne went to high
school with my second kid, where they were first and second, respectively, in
academic rank for their class. She got the part of Mary Warren, who tries to do
the right thing, before fear for her own life (when Abigail turns on her) leads
her to crumble. Placed in an impossible position, she does the all-too-human
thing and sacrifices another to save herself. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And finally, Stephen Overstreet,
who played Giles Corey. He is the closest thing this play has to comic relief,
which makes his eventual death all the more devastating. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Again, great cast, great staging,
great vision for the story. <i>The Crucible</i> is a brutal play, difficult to
watch, and not short, but in this version, it was compelling from start to
finish, and never dragged or lost focus. Everyone involved should be proud of
themselves for bringing it to life. We have a great local theater scene here in
Bakersfield, and this was another example of why. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The run is, unfortunately, done -
we went to closing night. But definitely check out the upcoming productions at <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.bctstage.org/"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">BCT</span></a></span> and elsewhere in town. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-66580792826263705582024-02-27T14:32:00.000-08:002024-02-27T14:32:50.342-08:00The Alabama Supreme Court Decision Further Reveals the Moral and Ethical Absurdity of the Anti-Abortion Movement<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In case you
missed it, the Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that frozen embryos, used
for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) are legally “children” and that they are
protected according to those standards. The decision was justified in fully
theocratic terms, invoking the wrath of an expressly Christian God. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
immediately led to IVF providers in Alabama shutting down, and shocked horror
from a lot of people who had no idea that the Religious Right would do
this. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Those of us who
spent time in theofascist circles were not surprised at all. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And neither
will we be surprised when some red state in the near future decrees that
female-controlled contraceptives (hormonal and IUD) are devices of murder and
outlaw them altogether. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is, to
most normal, rational, decent people, a moral and ethical absurdity. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But, it is the
inevitable result of allowing theology, rather than humanity, to direct policy.</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Specifically,
some highly questionable theology which is <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/02/18/the-biblical-view-thats-younger-than-the-happy-meal/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">younger than I am</span></a>, <a href="https://emerald7tfb.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/abortion-and-judeo-christian-religion/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">unsupported by the Bible</span></a>, created for the
purpose of <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">giving cover to racist political goals</span></a>, and
which is divorced from both science and empathy. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">***</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To start with,
let’s name the religious belief:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Religious
Right believes that God injects an immortal soul into human beings at the
moment that sperm and egg fuse.</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">[Note: this is
the <i>official</i> line, but in practice, the Religious Right <i>behaves</i>
as if it believes ensoulment occurs at male ejaculation into a female. That may
be the subject of a different post.]</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That this is
clearly a religious belief should be obvious - it requires the belief in an
immortal soul, a belief in a supreme being who creates them, and that this
occurs at a specific moment. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For some of the
issues this raises, I will defer to a separate post, other than to note that
the belief in ensoulment when sperm and egg meet is a very recent belief, and
was not the historic teaching of any significant branch of the Christian Church
until the rise of the Religious Right in the late 1970s. For the overwhelming
majority of the history of Christianity, the majority belief was that
ensoulment occurred at first breath, with a minority believing it happened at
“quickening” - when the movement of the fetus could be felt during the 2nd
trimester. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But, at least
for the last nearly 250 years, religion wasn’t supposed to be the basis of US
law, right? No establishment of religion, etc. But, theofascists have taken
over Alabama, and hold a majority of the US Supreme Court, so here we
are. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let’s look at
this scientifically first. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">***</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since the
existence or non-existence of an immortal soul is not something one can prove,
it is not within the purvey of science, but is instead a religious belief that
one either has or does not have. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What science <i>can</i>
help with is in <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-gap-science-of-what-separates-us.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">describing what makes us uniquely human</span></a>, and
in defining “personhood.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Personhood is a
very different concept from “life” - which is so nebulous as to be meaningless
(and thus easy to manipulate by the Religious Right.) Human “life” exists in
many forms which are clearly NOT persons. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It isn’t enough
to say something about “unique DNA.” For example, as a blood donor, my unique
DNA can be removed from my body and injected into another. My <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2408375/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">skin cells can be harvested and grown</span></a> on a
matrix for a graft either to myself or someone else. My bone marrow can be
donated to save a life. One of my kidneys can be removed from me. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All of these
have my unique DNA, but they are not a <i>person</i>. <b>I </b>am the person,
not my DNA. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So what makes
me a <i>person</i>. Scientifically, there are two terms which apply. First is
sentience: I know I exist. I do not merely experience existence, but am aware
of it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The second is
sapience: one might call this moral responsibility, knowledge of good and evil,
or in a more scientific sense, the ability to plan and extrapolate. This is
indeed what scientists consider a uniquely human trait, existing at a higher
level than any other animal. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(I linked it
above, but Thomas Suddendorf’s excellent book, <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-gap-science-of-what-separates-us.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">The Gap</span></i></a>, is one of the clearest things I
have read on the subject of what makes us human.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With these two
things in mind, to be a person, one must, at minimum, be aware of one’s own
existence. And, to be a fully adult human, one must have the ability to be
responsible for one’s self. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The lines here
are not bright, to say the least. We can generally see what is far to either
side of the line: I am a person, my donated blood is not. But it is near the
blurry line that things get more difficult, and we have to use our judgment -
and our empathy - to make the difficult decisions. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Just to give an
example on the issue of sapience from my legal practice: whether due to
developmental disabilities, brain damage, or dementia, some people are not or
become unable to care for themselves. In those cases, the court will appoint a
conservator to make the necessary decisions. These can be difficult cases at
the margins, and the law is an imperfect tool. However, it is a necessary
one. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Next, let’s
apply these ideas to embryos. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">*** </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Embryos are
frozen at different stages for IVF purposes. (Something I learned researching
this post.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is the
single cell - a fertilized egg. There is the two to eight cell version, frozen
a short time later. And there are the balls of about 100 cells that we call
blastocysts, and take 4-6 days to develop. It is the blastocyst that leaves the
fallopian tube and - if everything goes perfectly - implants in the uterine
wall and develops into a fetus. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Even in natural
conception and pregnancy, a significant number of fertilized eggs fail to
develop into blastocysts, and a significant number of blastocysts which fail to
successfully implant. There is a good bit of variance in the studies and claims
as to what percentages succeed and fail - this is a difficult thing to study to
say the least - but suffice it to say that with 3.7 million annual births in
the US, even if it is the low end - 15% failure - that’s over a half million
failed conceptions every single year. If the higher number is correct: 75% -
then there are <i>more</i> failed fertilizations than successful ones. Keep
this in mind for later, as it will create serious ethical and theological
problems. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now, let’s turn
to an analysis of “personhood” for these embryos. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In all three
cases, you have a bundle of undifferentiated cells. You have no nerve cells,
muscle cells, bone cells, skin cells - none of these exist. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Scientifically
speaking, there is no sentience here. Embryos are incapable of even the usual
responses to stimuli that bacteria have. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Simply put, an
embryo lacks the physical infrastructure for sentience. And, scientifically
speaking, does not qualify for personhood. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It also looks
like this:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikc6T_VUKGXMP7oROZFA_RXq6IgONwXKNmBcl1mYJQ0YmidBEnBfVzV6JMi11PeYqG5prJRIJjPqsAdOEfPOTBjq3BNg4DIMe9EsxEB1EMfUYUkZWyNlcJg2QMEVFXeatwwrW_um9VXcDSsLYRAXaEvQbioT3GKt1AepUHK5yI5aLeqOt8b2AiHw0kXLCN/s551/Frozen%20embryo.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="551" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikc6T_VUKGXMP7oROZFA_RXq6IgONwXKNmBcl1mYJQ0YmidBEnBfVzV6JMi11PeYqG5prJRIJjPqsAdOEfPOTBjq3BNg4DIMe9EsxEB1EMfUYUkZWyNlcJg2QMEVFXeatwwrW_um9VXcDSsLYRAXaEvQbioT3GKt1AepUHK5yI5aLeqOt8b2AiHw0kXLCN/w400-h306/Frozen%20embryo.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br /><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This -
literally - is what the Alabama Supreme Court called a “child.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The only way
you arrive at that conclusion is with that belief that ensoulment occurs when
sperm fuses with egg. And that is a <i>religious belief</i> that should not be
imposed on others, and has no place in our lawmaking. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">***</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Equating an
embryo with a child creates moral and ethical absurdity.</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let’s think
through a few of these. First, if a frozen embryo is a child, what are we to do
with them? There are over a million of them in the United States right now. The
people who provided egg and sperm for them are likely a wide-ranging bunch:
some are dead, many are old, many are done having children, some will likely
use some of their embryos, but not all. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What is the
end-game here? Do we force women to gestate them? And who? Maybe we can get the
children or grandchildren of the judges who wrote this decision to devote their
lives to popping out these “children.” And why not? Certainly the rights of
these “children” outweigh any futures of these women and teens, right? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I mean, that is
literally the anti-abortion argument. The woman with the uterus doesn’t matter
- she should be forced to gestate, give birth, and potentially bear primary
physical and economic responsibility.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Surely this is
morally and ethically absurd? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This gets to
the heart of the ethical problem for the anti-abortion movement. Once you
accept the theological belief that ensoulment occurs at fertilization, then you
end up here, with a need to force <i>someone</i> to gestate these embryos. If
the source of the eggs is unable or dead, do you use government coercion to
force a random woman to do it? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Again, <i>what
is your plan for the 1 million frozen embryos?</i> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you think it
is ethical to force women to gestate them? Is it ethical to take an embryo
created by a couple and away from them if they won’t gestate it, and give it to
someone else? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Morally and
ethically absurd. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How about some
other ethical problems?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If embryos are
children, then by FAR the greatest cause of child death is failure to implant
in the uterus. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In 2021, 9791
children died in the US. (Meaning <i>actual</i> children, not as defined now in
Alabama.) If the lowest percentage for implantation failure is accurate, then
over 50 times as many “children” die from implantation failure. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Shouldn’t we
drop everything else we are doing in medical research and try to figure out how
to stop this incredible bloodbath? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Does this not
sound morally and ethically absurd? Do you really believe this?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Or maybe you
don’t <i>really</i> believe embryos are children. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Likewise, if
you <i>really</i> believe that fertilized eggs have immortal souls, then you
must believe that between heaven and hell, 3 in every 20 people you meet will
have never implanted in a uterus, but “died” and went to the afterlife having
never gotten past 100 cells. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Do you really
believe that? And if the numbers are the higher estimate, more than half of the
people you meet in heaven would never have “lived” as a sentient being.
Really? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">[Actually, come
to think of it, if you believe like an old-school Calvinist that unbaptized
infants go to hell, then hell is mostly populated by people who were never,
technically speaking, born. If you believe that unbaptized infants and children
under the age of responsibility go to heaven, then even with the lower numbers,
heaven is almost certainly filled mostly with people who were never actually
born. And if they go to heaven, isn’t aborting them ALL the compassionate
thing, rather than risk they make choices that send them to hell?] </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I mean, come
on! This is so far into absurdity it almost doesn’t warrant comment!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This also
raises ethical issues which many of us who left fundamentalism have been
warning about. If an embryo has a soul, then that justifies complete control of
pregnant - or potentially pregnant women. Heaven forbid she might do something
that might theoretically lessen her chances of carrying a child to term.
Everything from eating sushi to exercising. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is full-on
policing of pregnant women, and mass incarceration of those who aren’t perfect
enough in their behavior where we want to go with this? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That’s morally
and ethically absurd. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But what <i>actually</i>
would prevent more of these deaths? Contraception works primarily by preventing
ovulation, with a possible (the evidence is less than convincing) secondary
effect of preventing implantation. Because so many “natural” fertilized eggs
fail to implant, taking contraception would actually prevent a LOT of “deaths”
by preventing ovulation. In raw numbers, there would be fewer dead “children”
if every woman was constantly on contraception and never tried to
conceive. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Which is
obviously a morally and ethically absurd position to take. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In reality, we
accept the risk of failed pregnancies as a cost of successful ones, and feel no
moral guilt about it. But if those really <i>were</i> immortal souls, our lack
of concern is a problem, yes?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Here is another
one: 2 percent of all births in the US are IVF. Even such conservatives as
former vice president Mike Pence has an IVF-conceived child. It is one of the
most effective means of treating infertility and allowing otherwise infertile
couples to have children. If you shut this down, you actually lower the number
of children - real, actual children - that are born to people who desire
them. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Some
Republicans are already backpedaling and looking to create an IVF exception,
but they are finding that this in itself creates another moral and ethical
issue. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What IS the
moral difference between an embryo in a freezer and one in a fallopian tube or
uterus? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is
none. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So, if you
actually believe in ensoulment at fertilization, you can’t pick and choose.
Even if that leads to results that are morally and ethically absurd in the real
world.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you grant
the exception - just like if you grant the exceptions for rape and incest to
abortion - you lose the game. And you lose because you admit that your moral
high horse is just an excuse for something else. I’ll get to that. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So, maybe you
decide to try some more consistent exceptions so that you can keep, say, IVF
and female-controlled contraception. But then, that leads to the question of
when that ensoulment occurs. Once you go down that road, you are back to where
we used to be: quickening, or alternate, first breath. (Or, at least
theoretically, some scientific sentience line we have yet to actually
discover.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And then you
start to look at the very small numbers of later abortions, which happen, not
because women change their mind partway through a pregnancy, but because of
serious issues, from <a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/abortions-later-in-pregnancy-in-a-post-dobbs-era/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">fetal anomaly to health complications</span></a>. Nobody
has having a late abortion for shits and giggles. Nobody. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You can see
that the more you actually take reality and humanity into account, the closer
you get to keeping the law generally out of reproductive decisions. Women and
their (actual, born) children do better when women have choices about
reproduction. And that includes contraception, IVF, and, yes, abortion. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">***</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We know what
this is really about, though, and it isn’t “the children.”</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
anti-abortion lobby lies. It lies constantly and about everything. Everything
from church history, the Bible, and legal history to science. It needs these
lies to sustain the movement and it needs the lies to prevent its followers
from embracing a truly holistic approach to abortion that would feature
universal access to contraception, scientifically accurate sex education, and
consent-based relationship education. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The real issue
for the Religious Right and the anti-abortion lobby is that women have sex for
pleasure and other reasons, rather than solely to create babies for a man who,
for all practical purposes, owns them. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is nothing
new. Traditionally and for many today, pregnancy is seen as a necessary
punishment for women who have sex without being married to and controlled by a
man. Without that punishment, it is much harder to “keep women in line.” Both
abortion and contraception give women other options, and thus loosen male
control. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is also
about how right wingers view the role of women, and their reason for existence
in the world. Women are to breed, not think. They are to create and care for
the offspring of the men who own women for that purpose. And they are to be
controlled by men, <a href="https://www.newsbreak.com/news/3346924479599-alabama-is-using-the-notion-that-embryos-are-people-to-surveil-and-harass-women-moira-donegan?_f=app_share&s=a7&share_destination_id=MjEwOTk5MTEzLTE3MDkwMDQ1Nzk3ODg%3D&pd=0EHKVVi4&hl=en_US&send_time=1709004579&actBtn=floatShareButton&trans_data=%7B%22platform%22%3A1%2C%22cv%22%3A%2222.39.3%22%2C%22languages%22%3A%22en%22%7D"><span style="color: #1155cc;">using the power of the state if necessary</span></a>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is beyond
the scope of this post, but this belief is essentially a projection like
everything else the Right Wing says and does. Biologically, the default for
life is female. It is <i>males</i> who exist in biological terms solely for
reproduction, for the creation and preservation of genetic diversity. This
doesn’t mean men are unnecessary or irrelevant in human society - we are social
animals, and nobody is truly unnecessary or irrelevant. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">By giving
embryos souls and full rights, it means taking rights away from actual sentient
and sapient beings: women. Losing the right to decide whether to use your body
to gestate is significant. Being forced to risk life and health, as is already
happening in red states, is significant. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At the heart of
it all is the belief that women exist to gestate, and that all other rights she
may have are meaningless compared to that. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that is how
you take the idea of the Image of God - an immortal soul - and turn it into a <a href="https://davebarnhart.wordpress.com/2024/02/22/undelivered-mail-and-the-image-of-god/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">weapon that dehumanizes women</span></a>, and end up in a
place of moral and ethical absurdity. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-19608698792448840822024-02-22T15:03:00.000-08:002024-02-22T15:03:59.858-08:00Love Thy Neighbor: A Muslim Doctor's Struggle for Home in Rural America by Ayaz Virji and Alan Eisenstock<p> <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
Borrowed from the library</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Last year I
read and wrote about <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/07/dying-of-whiteness-by-jonathan-metzl.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">Dying of Whiteness</span></i><span style="color: #1155cc;">
by Jonathan Metzl</span></a>, a book I highly recommend. The book examines the
psychological component of the phenomenon which I described in the opening of
that blog post as follows:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have been
saying for a number of years that rural white America appears hell-bent on
committing suicide. They consistently reject policies that would help them, and
embrace policies that harm them. And they do this because their desire to
maintain a privileged position over people of color outweighs their apparent
financial and physical well-being.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In addition to
the three areas that Metzl examines - gun laws, Medicaid expansion, and school
funding - there are many others. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nDEREDwYoRxqvPKfCy45x-EK-ygP1nxGlDpGKJQi2OEkjEF7SypgSUhTTu1oZnKPLTWoYHw3J_HD9WptLJlf4r372msCujiI2xdffMb4qZn-VMIZtLlRii_iIfROti7pRxRnmWj9u-Y9GQSJW9pcPRs_geYh1X4dVBoHQAXpKXu5p_vhITQPzmvKg1pY/s400/Love%20Thy%20Neighbor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nDEREDwYoRxqvPKfCy45x-EK-ygP1nxGlDpGKJQi2OEkjEF7SypgSUhTTu1oZnKPLTWoYHw3J_HD9WptLJlf4r372msCujiI2xdffMb4qZn-VMIZtLlRii_iIfROti7pRxRnmWj9u-Y9GQSJW9pcPRs_geYh1X4dVBoHQAXpKXu5p_vhITQPzmvKg1pY/s320/Love%20Thy%20Neighbor.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Love Thy
Neighbor: A Muslim Doctor’s Struggle for Home in Rural America</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
is all about another issue that I have been raising for years. </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Rural white
America - and red states in general - are making their communities and states
unlivable for the very people they depend on and need for their own health and
well being - and indeed their future. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is no secret
that rural health care in the United States sucks badly. There are chronic
shortages of doctors, nurses, and other care providers, and attracting and
keeping them is difficult. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s not just
medicine, though. It is lawyers, teachers, engineers, social workers,
psychologists, and others. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The problem
already existed before Trump, but Trump has made things exponentially worse.
Let me explain. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let’s say you
are an educated professional, recently out of school, and are considering
starting a family and settling down somewhere. What might you be looking for?
Well, rural America has a few things to offer: affordable housing, a
slower-paced lifestyle, cleaner air, and maybe a few more. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But what are
the drawbacks? Well, distance from the city means less educational opportunity,
fewer arts and music events, fewer similarly educated people, worse medical
care, lower pay. And - depending on the situation - you might never be truly
accepted into the community. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">These are
already some significant drawbacks, and ones that I think many professionals
already consider. Why go work in Podunk, Iowa, where you can’t get a decent
taco or pho, where it’s a day’s drive to see a concert or a play, and where
your kids will lack access to art and music education? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is a real
reason why white professionals tend to <i>leave</i> rural America rather than
return to it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So who fills
these gaps? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">More often than
not, it is immigrants with browner skin. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let me tell you
a local story: in one of our smaller towns in my county, one with a history of
farming and a diverse population, the main primary care physician is a Sikh. He
has faithfully and compassionately served the community for decades. My own experience
with him (regarding a case years ago) gave me a positive impression, and I know
others who feel the same. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unfortunately,
during Trump’s 2016 campaign, a LOT of racism and xenophobia revealed itself in
our community. This doctor’s son was <a href="https://www.bakersfield.com/news/threat-against-sikh-man-spurs-dialogue-against-hate/article_d72bbf23-b769-5cc9-a35c-bc0be94bc497.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">physically assaulted and threatened in public</span></a>
- presumably mistaken for a Muslim, not that that specifically matters. <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2016/11/looking-away-from-assault-election-tale.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">I wrote about the incident in relation to Trump</span></a>,
who has made his political career out of slandering and insulting
minorities. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Love Thy
Neighbor</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> tells a similar story. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dr. Ayaz Virji
and his family moved to rural Minnesota, hoping to enjoy the small-town
lifestyle AND bring a much-needed service to an underserved community. He’s one
of the good guys, doing his best to love his neighbor and make the world a
better place. But he is a Muslim. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unfortunately,
Trump’s election brought out tremendous anti-Muslim hate, from calls for a
Muslim registry to swastikas on the sidewalk to harassment of his children at
school. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Virji strongly
considered moving away, but decided instead to try to educate people. He does
this with the assistance and encouragement from his friend, Pastor Mandy
France. (Yes, a female pastor! How refreshing!) He starts with a presentation
about Islam, which then becomes a regular traveling event. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The book is a
combination of Virji’s story and the presentation - “Love Your Neighbor” - that
he gives. Alan Eisenstock ghost-wrote the book, and is attributed accordingly.
Nothing wrong with that. The book flows fine, and Virji’s voice comes through. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll give a bit
of a spoiler: Virji does decide to stay where he is, despite the problems. This
is more than that town deserved, so hat off to a good man, one far more
Christian than those who go by that name. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a
number of fascinating things about this book. First of all, Virji knows his
Bible far better than most Evangelicals I know. His lectures do quote the
Koran, but also contain even more Christian content. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is
powerful, because his argument for tolerance and acceptance comes mostly from
the Christian scriptures. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It also lays
bare the reality that most of what goes by the name of Christianity in the
United States - particularly among white people - is nothing of the sort. It is
just a fake-ass “christianity” that is a veneer over racism and xenophobia. <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/10/reconstructing-gospel-by-jonathan.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Slaveholder Religion</span></a> as Jonathan
Wilson-Hartgrove calls it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In contrast,
Virji is motivated by his religion to do good in the world, to show compassion,
to devote his life to others. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For people like
him - and like me these days - this raises some uncomfortable questions. Why
does religion motivate people in such different directions? And also this
problem, which Virji confronted when a friend told him he was going to hell:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How could an “all-merciful God” create
six billion people and, just like that, predestine most of them to go to Hell?
That’s not right. That is not what God meant. At least not the God I believe
in. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It also is not
the God that <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-radical-meaning-of-parable-of-good.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Christ spoke of</span></a>, who valued actions over
doctrinal purity. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Politics too
have raised questions. Virji recounts his sense of betrayal at Trump’s
election, something I very much understand. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“We live with these people. How could
they vote for him? They’re voting against <i>us</i>. They’re repudiating <i>us.</i>” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is the
truth. The American Right is literally repudiating everyone not like them, from
racial minorities to LGBTQ people to feminist women. But who is going to care
for them without all of those people?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Qualified white doctors are not flowing
into rural America. They’re just not coming. All the doctors I have recruited
to join me are people of color, born in India, Asia, the Middle East, Africa.
The great irony is that as our new president proposes a travel ban with the
intention of keeping immigrants out of our country, immigrants with medical
degrees are the only ones coming to care for Americans out <i>in</i> the
country. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Indeed. Dying
of whiteness. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Personally, I
found the lectures to be interesting and thoughtful. I need to read the copy of
the Koran I got a couple of years ago, of course, but I am not unfamiliar with
the tenets of other religions. (My 7th grader has had to study world religions
as part of her social studies this year - something I wish I had done at that
age. At least here in California, educational standards have improved from the
white-centric focus of the past.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a
great passage in which Virji plays “Bible or Koran” with his audience. I will
say that I knew 100% - I was an excellent bible quiz kid back in the day, I’ve
read the Bible multiple times, and know it better than a number of pastors I
had over the years. So yeah, I knew which was which. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But not because
the <i>ideas</i> were different. I just knew the exact <i>phrase</i> used. It
is indeed interesting how close religions tend to be on so many things. It’s as
if humans are pretty much the same everywhere. (Or, if you are religious, you
might conclude that God has connected with all humans over all times, not just
one particular ethnic group at one time in history…) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not only do
holy books often resemble each other and express the same truths and longings,
but there is often more diversity within the interpretive tradition of a single
book. Virji notes that Islamic tradition holds that each verse has “between
seven and seventy thousand meanings.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I believe this
is important because <i>all</i> holy books have problems. It is easy enough to
“proof-text” violence into Islam - as fundamentalists have done. But it is also
easy to “proof-text” all the horribles into the Bible. I mean, shall we dash
the brains of infants out on the rocks? How about exterminate entire ethnic
groups - men, women, children, animals, and furniture? Hell, the Bible was used
for centuries to <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2024/02/narrative-of-life-of-frederick-douglass.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">justify slavery</span></a> and <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/11/in-defense-of-witches-by-mona-chollet.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">the murder of independent women</span></a>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But there are
also wholesome interpretations within every religion. Does this one by Virji
sound familiar?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Muhammad said the person who doesn’t
want for his neighbor what he wants for himself has no faith. Jesus said love
thy neighbor. Love everyone the way I love them.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m going to
give Muhammad credit here: he has called out American white “christians” on
their fundamental soul-sickness. They have no intention of letting “those
people” have what they have. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Virji notes
something that I have noticed as well. The deep soul-sickness of white
Evangelicalism is due in large part to the fact that they have outsourced their
theology and their morality to right-wing media sources like Fox News. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Somewhere between 9/11 and now, a bait
and switch happened, where all of a sudden you have been exposed to religious
doctrine and teachings from the <i>media</i> - not from scholars, not from
people like me.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When it comes
to Islam in particular, our media - and that includes the supposedly “liberal”
media - has committed malpractice. It has fed the lie that the most fanatical
and hateful form of a religion is representative of it. I sure hope, as a
Christian, that I am not judged by the KKK - that “fine Christian institution”
as they billed themselves. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are
approximately three million Muslims in the United States. (That’s about the
same number as Jewish people, by the way.) Contrary to the stereotypes, they
actually have <i>higher</i> rates for female education and employment than
white Christian Americans. Did you know that? Overwhelmingly, they live in
peace here, contributing to their communities. You don’t hear that much from
the media, which prefers lurid sensation to clear-headed reporting these
days. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Growing up in
Los Angeles, I think I have always known Muslims. We used to get fresh pita
bread and milk at a local corner store. I have known Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists,
Jews, Catholics, and probably more since I was a child. Most people, given a
stable existence, will seek to live in peace. I am far more worried about
violence from MAGA believers - they certainly are more of a threat than Muslims
here in the US.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What Virji
points out - and what I continually point out on this blog - is that it is the
unholy marriage of religion to power, politics, and violence that is the evil
we face. ISIL/ISIS (cited by Virji in the book) has murdered, raped, and abused
thousands of people. Nearly ALL of whom were Muslim. So, maybe this isn’t about
religion, but about power. As Salman Rushdie put it:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="color: #c00000; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Fundamentalism isn’t
about religion. It is about power.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That goes
equally for fundamentalist “christianity.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For Virji, this
truth is why he is astounded that the United States is hostile to
refugees. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Only one half of one percent of the
world’s refugee population comes here. One half of one percent. We are the
richest nation in the world. We have the biggest army in the world. We spend
more on our military than the next ten countries combined. And we refuse
refugees? We shut them out? We refuse orphans? What kind of message is that? Is
that what America is about?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When I was a
child, my parents taught me that a core value not just of being a Christian,
but of being an <i>American</i> was that we embraced and welcomed refugees. A
core, non-negotiable value.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Fast forward to
Trump’s campaign, and suddenly my father is saying that we need to just shut
the whole refugee system down and send them all away. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">WHAT???</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is
impossible to overstate just how much my respect for my father was burned to
the ground in that moment. How much of a betrayal of the values I was raised on
that was. I walked out of the conversation, I was so appalled. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As part of his
lectures, Virji addresses the specific misconceptions about Islam that always
come up: terrorism, women’s rights, and Sharia law. The problem he faces, of
course, is the Taliban and similar governments. The problem here is theocracy
and fundamentalism - a political issue, not a religious one. Today’s Christian
Nationalists envision a state similar to the Taliban - just with them in power,
so the adage about glass houses should apply here. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The chapter on
women was quite enlightening - I learned things I didn’t know. And yes, I have
fact checked these, in case you were wondering. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Muhammad lived
in the 7th Century CE. At the time, his part of the world was hardly a paragon
of equality - it was more like the Roman world at the time of Christ. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like Christ and
Paul and the other apostles, Muhammad actually pushed for progressive reforms.
Women were no longer to be married against their will. Married women kept their
own property - something that wouldn’t happen in the West for centuries. And - how
interesting is this - women had the vote during Muhammad’s reign. This is
supported by primary source evidence, by the way. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What happened,
though, is a lot like what happened to Christianity. We went from female
apostles like Junia, home gatherings, sharing property in common, and a
religion that embraced marginalized people to patriarchy, slavery, unregulated
capitalism, and hatred for those outside the mainstream. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A similar thing
happened to Islam, sadly. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m not going
to claim that either of these religions is perfect, even in aspiration. But
when you start looking at the actual history and context, the
“Christianity:good / Islam:bad” paradigm just doesn’t hold up. What does hold
up is the brilliance of separation of church and state, religious freedom and
tolerance, and always loving your neighbor. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh, and another
fun bit: in the Bible, Eve eats the fruit first. In the Koran, they do so
together. Eve is not blamed in the same way. Interesting. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One more on the
subject of women. While I think Virji glosses the problems of <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/p/modesty-culture.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">modesty culture</span></a> a bit, he does make a good
point that hijab (for women here in the US at least) is a matter of personal
choice - and one that risks harassment by bigots. What is most interesting,
though, is that he points out that our beauty contests are gross as hell,
treating women like cattle. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Perhaps this is
particularly fascinating in that the people I know who push modesty culture
also voted for Trump - a man who not only sponsored these gross beauty
contests, but intentionally walked in on teen girls changing. Hypocrisy much? I
guess I am old enough to remember when Trump was still considered gross by
Evangelicals - the epitome of what being an atheist supposedly made you become.
But, all he had to do was put an (R) after his name and say a bunch of racist
shit and now he is their orange messiah. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The book ends
with some excellent thoughts on the Trump catastrophe and how it happened.
First is a return to the idea that disinformation is at the root of the
mistaken beliefs. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I want to focus on the positive. I
sincerely believe that the vast majority of people in Dawson are good, decent
people. We simply have a disinformation problem. As a rule, people here watch
Fox News regularly. As a result, they are misinformed, and when they talk to
each other, they are speaking in an echo chamber. If you are fed only garbage,
you not only get used to it, you develop a taste for it. Soon you won’t be able
to tell when you are actually fed something good, something right, something
true.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I rarely watch
TV - perhaps one good lingering side effect of my Fundie years - and I
certainly avoid propaganda like Fox News. But it is impossible to miss that for
most of my former tribe - my parents included - I can trace their moral
disintegration in significant part to their consumption of the poisonous
garbage that that vile propaganda engine spews constantly. As I stated before,
the problem is that white Evangelicals have outsourced their morality to Fox
News and similar sources. And their theology, and their politics. I can
literally predict what will come out of their mouths about ANY subject by
checking what Fox News just said. Every time. It’s uncanny. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Going one layer
deeper, though, Virji and I both have had to face the terrifying question:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yet I see how people defend the hate
speaker and I wonder - <i>did he bring out the evil in them?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Or was it there already?</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This haunts me
about my former religious tribe. Did Trump and Fox News bring out this evil in
them? Or were they always this evil and hateful and cruel?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And this haunts
me even more about my parents. Were they always like this? Did they just hide
their bigotry while teaching me good values? Or were they once better people
who allowed themselves to be poisoned by the <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/08/how-to-identify-false-prophets.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">false prophets</span></a> they followed? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To circle back
to the beginning of this post, while I greatly admire Virji for sticking it out
in rural America, I can’t help but think that his book will have a very
different result. It confirms - not through lies and propaganda, but through
the cries of a heart broken by his experiences of prejudice and hate - that
rural white America is so consumed with its own racism, fear, and hate that it
is no place for decent people to make a home. Despite all his efforts, all the
good he does in the community, his enlightening and impassioned lectures - it
is still hate that is winning in Dawson and throughout Red State America. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As I watch
anti-LGBTQ legislation pass in state after state, as I see reproductive
healthcare criminalized, as Trump continues to be popular with white
Evangelicals despite attempting to overthrow the government, I find it
difficult to feel that these places will be remotely safe for people like me,
let alone my children. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Virji may have
decided to stay, but will his children? Will Pastor Mandy’s children? How many
of the young people will stay? Probably not many. How many doctors looking for
a home will even consider rural America after Trump?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This will
repeat across town after town in rural America. There will be that nagging
feeling that it isn’t a safe place for people of color, for LGBTQ people, for
immigrants, for refugees. A few will risk themselves to do good, but how many
will risk their children? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Suicide by
whiteness. Suicide by bigotry. Choking themselves on their own hate.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">***</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Something
personal: </span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My hometown of
Bakersfield has a lot of good things about it - a close legal community, a
vibrant arts and music scene, proximity to Los Angeles as well as mountains,
beach, and desert, and more progressives than its reputation would indicate.
Housing is more affordable than other places in California. There is a wide
variety of food at reasonable prices. And it’s wonderfully diverse. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But it also has
a lot of knuckle-dragging bigots, coal-rollers, Confederate sympathizers, and
Trump assholes. The church options are depressing, unfortunately. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are times
when it has been tempting to leave, although it would have significant
financial consequences. Also, packing up and leaving is never easy - I made a
few moves as a kid, and they were always hard. So we have chosen to stay, enjoy
the good, and push back against the bad. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But I have to
wonder, if we hadn’t put roots down here before Trump, would we consider moving
here? The answer may well be “no.” As it is, our kids do not wish to live here
after they graduate. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When we think
of the future, if we ever are able to retire, is this a place we want to live?
I’m not sure. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But far more
than that, we already know we cannot move to a red state, ever. With children
for whom sexuality and gender is complicated, we know it will very likely not
be safe for them to visit us in a place like Texas or Florida. Multiple states
are already places where a child could be arrested for using the
restroom. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let me also
mention another instance. My in-laws live in northeastern California, in a part
of the state that is loony-bin right wing (as in their department of public
health had no plans to distribute Covid vaccines to most of the population - my
in-laws had to travel to another county to get theirs.) My in-laws would love
for us to move closer, but there is no way that is happening, as much as we
love them. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My
mother-in-law had a medical emergency a few years ago, and the local hospital
completely ignored her symptoms, even though literally any reasonably aware
person would have recognized them. She could easily have died. My in-laws
literally had to get in their own car and drive the hour and a half to Reno to
get competent treatment, and the delay caused some permanent impairment. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My wife is an
outstanding nurse, currently working in quality and regulatory compliance after
20+ years in ICU. There is no doubt that she could make a difference in local
medical care. But she will not consider moving there, and neither will I. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As good as my
in-laws are, there are just too many hateful people there for us to be
comfortable. I don’t think our kids would be safe, and I know we would never
fit in, as anti-Trump progressives. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I doubt that we
are the only people who take a look at communities like that and decide on a
hard pass. How many others will drive through, see all the Trump shrines and
racist banners and decide to go elsewhere? Repeat this throughout rural white
America - which appears to prefer to commit suicide rather than repent of its
bigotry. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-55911109795335571002024-02-21T13:51:00.000-08:002024-02-21T13:51:24.990-08:00Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
I own this</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is my
second selection for Black History Month this year. I previously blogged about <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2024/02/mules-and-men-by-zora-neale-hurston.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">Mules and Men</span></i><span style="color: #1155cc;"> by
Zora Neale Hurston</span></a>. <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/p/black-history-month-book-list.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">You can read all of my BHM selections as well as other
books by black authors here</span></a>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Historian,
professor, and author David Blight, whose biography of Douglass is arguably the
definitive one, has said that it was Frederick Douglass, not Ralph Waldo
Emerson, who was the greatest American orator of the 19th Century. And he is
likely correct. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">[Note: Let me
make a plug for Blight’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXXp1bHd6gI&list=PL5DD220D6A1282057"><span style="color: #1155cc;">outstanding free lecture series for his Yale University
class</span></a> on the Civil War and Reconstruction. I learned a tremendous
amount from that class during my lunch breaks not long ago.] </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimAazBi2sSpmmn5eAK4CjA5mo-3qtb9FPY9uAe3ryhIXwXC5POiIHSqV_ZLNZa4wzHpSzVL-DMFxAKM0zEPWCey_QAFccyYtUpVevbCBacpthpggSoGnZ0TkwHcQlned_pXA97jht0LRYQ_n6dAkiXx4NkEdbsJz4U0oEILKuXaIWE6fdmzawiYfsZFYTa/s708/Frederick%20Douglass.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="433" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimAazBi2sSpmmn5eAK4CjA5mo-3qtb9FPY9uAe3ryhIXwXC5POiIHSqV_ZLNZa4wzHpSzVL-DMFxAKM0zEPWCey_QAFccyYtUpVevbCBacpthpggSoGnZ0TkwHcQlned_pXA97jht0LRYQ_n6dAkiXx4NkEdbsJz4U0oEILKuXaIWE6fdmzawiYfsZFYTa/s320/Frederick%20Douglass.jpg" width="196" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Frederick
Douglass is one of those people who are larger than life, one of the true
heroes of his time. Born into enslavement, he defied his enslavers and learned
how to read. He eventually managed to escape, fled all the way to the North,
and eventually connected with the abolitionist movement. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To say that his
speech made an impression is to undersell it. He burst onto the scene to
shocked applause followed by thunderous acclaim. He wrote and spoke with
eloquence, passion, and an unbowed confidence in his belief that slavery was a
vile evil, a rank injustice, and - as this book makes clear - diametrically
opposed to any possible Christian value. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And he was
right. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Douglass would
go on to a renowned career as a lecturer, not only in the United States, but
abroad. After the Civil War and the end of enslavement, he continued to
advocate for full civil rights for African Americans - and for women’s rights
as well. He also served as ambassador to Haiti under the Harrison
administration. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I did want to
mention Douglass’ name. The Frederick he was given at birth, and he insisted on
keeping it. Like most of the enslaved, his surname was that of his enslaver -
and indeed, Douglass strongly suspected that his first enslaver was actually
his biological father, as his father was clearly white. (He was separated from
his mother as an infant, and she died soon thereafter.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When Douglass
escaped, he used a series of names to cover his tracks. The last one of those
was Johnson, but he soon realized that there were so many Frederick Johnsons in
New Bedford that he needed something to distinguish himself from others. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He settled on
Douglass after a friend suggested it - the friend had been reading <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-lady-of-lake-by-sir-walter-scott.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">The Lady of the Lake</span></i></a>. Most editions these
days use the single “s” but two letters were also used. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are so
many other fascinating details of his life, but I will leave those for when I
read his biography. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As for this
book, it is Douglass’ own account of his life, from birth through his escape to
freedom. It thus ends when he was around 21 years old (he never knew his date
of birth.) The book also omits nearly all details of his escape - as he
explains, if he gave details, it would make it more difficult for other
enslaved persons to do as he did. Which is certainly fair enough. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Douglass’
writing is excellent: he tells a good story, includes enough detail to be
interesting, but not so much as to make the story drag. His account of himself
is interwoven with his feelings from childhood that slavery was morally wrong,
and that he himself was having a wrong done to him as a human being. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He also refuses
to give moral cover for enslavers, which is undoubtedly why this book (and
others written by African Americans) are being targeted by modern day book bans
- white supremacists haven’t disappeared, and are now emboldened by
Trump. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is this
moral clarity that is so refreshing and breathtaking. Douglass is unafraid to
say what every true Christian should be saying: that slavery has always been
wrong, and fully incompatible with following Christ. Full stop. And the
corollary, that racism in any form is anti-christian and morally evil.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that
includes MAGA “christianity” as well. It is everything anti-christian, from top
to bottom, and is in fact just a new iteration of Confederate “christianity.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> I’ll be
quoting from Douglass’ epilogue extensively, where he explains that he is not
anti-religion, but rather anti-evil. It’s good stuff. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The book also
contains a preface, written by prominent abolitionist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lloyd_Garrison"><span style="color: #1155cc;">William Lloyd Garrison</span></a>, and a letter from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Phillips"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Wendell
Phillips</span></a>, a lawyer and activist who was viewed by many African
Americans as "the one white American wholly color-blind and free from race
prejudice.” Good men both. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I decided to
quote a bit from Garrison, because he had some incredible things to say. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It may,
perhaps, be fairly questioned, whether any other portion of the population of
the earth could have endured the privations, sufferings and horrors of slavery,
without having become more degraded in the scale of humanity than the slaves of
African descent. Nothing has been left undone to cripple their intellects,
darken their minds, debase their moral nature, obliterate all traces of their
relationship to mankind; and yet how wonderfully they have sustained the mighty
load of a most frightful bondage, under which they have been groaning for
centuries!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Garrison goes
on to cite the case of a white American sailor who was enslaved for three years
before being rescued, and by that time had gone insane. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He had this to
say about the book itself:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He who can peruse it without a tearful
eye, a heaving breast, an afflicted spirit, - without being filled with an
unutterable abhorrence of slavery and all its abettors, and animated with a
determination to seek the immediate overthrow of that execrable system, -
without trembling for the fate of this country in the hands of a righteous God,
who is ever on the side of the oppressed, and whose arm is not shortened that
it cannot save, - must have a flinty heart, and be qualify to act the part of a
trafficker “in slaves and the soles of men.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have wondered
that myself - why did the enslavers have no fear of God? And also:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">O, how accursed is that system, which
entombs the godlike mind of man, defaces the divine image, reduces those who
were crowned with glory and honor to a level with four-footed beasts, and
exalts the deal in human flesh above all that is called God! Why should its
existence be prolonged one hour? Is it not evil, only evil, and that
continually? What does its presence imply but the absence of all fear of God,
all regard for man, on the part of the people of the United States? Heaven
speed its eternal overthrow!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Again, Garrison
says out loud the truth, that enslavers dehumanize the enslaved, and do so to
feed their own greed. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Douglass
provides pithy commentary throughout his story of his life, and there are
definitely some quotable lines. For example, his discussion of the songs
created by the enslaved is on point. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have been utterly astonished since I
came to the north, to find persons who could speak of the singing, among
slaves, as evidence of the contentment and happiness. It is impossible to
conceive of a greater mistake. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of
his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by
its tears. I have often sung to drown my sorrow, but seldom to express my
happiness. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I suspect the
same sort of people thought the blues were happy songs, but I also am fairly
certain that this was just wishful thinking to paper over the pangs of
conscience. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later in the
book, Douglass talks about how enslavers would encourage the enslaved to spend
their holidays in trivial games and drunkenness. Douglass and a few others
secretly spent their time teaching others enslaved to read. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was understood, among all who came,
that there must be as little display about it as possible. It was necessary to
keep our religious masters at St. Michael’s unacquainted with the fact that,
instead of spending the Sabbath in wrestling, boxing, and drinking whisky, we
were trying to learn how to read the will of God; for they had much rather see
us engaged in those degrading sports, than to see us behaving like
intellectual, moral, and accountable beings. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a good
bit of this attitude left in our culture. As much as I enjoy watching certain
sports, there are far too many white fans who still see black athletes in this
same light - as freakish entertainers who should just “shut up and play.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One part of the
story that I found particularly fascinating was Douglass’ account of how he
learned to read. He got a very brief start from the wife of his enslaver’s
brother (who was “borrowing” him to serve her son), but her husband soon put a
stop to that. (An interesting part of the story is her moral deterioration from
a kind woman to a harsh one as one of the side effects of enslaving. As I have
noted in our own times, moral stupidity leads to this kind of
deterioration.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later, though,
Douglass, not to be denied an education, started spending his free time hanging
out with the impoverished white immigrant children in his Baltimore
neighborhood. (Remember, segregation is NOT natural, which is <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-color-of-law-by-richard-rothstein.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">why it had to be enforced by law</span></a>…) They often
lacked food, while he had as much as he wanted - part of being a “good”
enslaver was to keep the human livestock well fed - so he “traded bread for
knowledge” as he put it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He also managed
to get a hold of a book of speeches, which included some abolitionist materials
from free-born black <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Sheridan_Leary"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Lewis Sheridan</span></a>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The more I read, the more I was led to
abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a
band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and
stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery. I
loathed them as being the meanest as well as the most wicked of men.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I think
Douglass is right. At its core, enslavement is about stealing labor from
another human, profiting off their work. Slavery was the most obvious
manifestation of this, but wage slavery is also theft (the Bible has a lot to
say about it, actually), as are other forms of economic oppression - all of
them allow some humans to reap the benefit of the labor of others. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Douglass admits
that his hard-won knowledge didn’t bring him happiness. It was only hope of
freedom that kept him alive. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I often found myself regretting my own
existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have
no doubt but that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I
should have been killed. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While my own
experiences are clearly nowhere comparable to enslavement, I have felt rather
in the same way. Authoritarian Fundamentalism is its own form of enslavement,
and as a teen, with my life being contracted by Gothard’s cult rather than
expanded as it should have as I transitioned to adulthood, I felt a lot of
frustration. One of these days, I think I need to write again about those
years, and why I was not allowed to go to a normal college or choose my own
career. In any case, I took my lumps, knowing that at some point, I would be
able to move out and make my own decisions, even if my parents disapproved.
(And they most certainly have made their displeasure clear about many things in
the years since.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Douglass also
tells the story of how one of his enslavers found religion. And what it did to
him. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I indulged a faint hope that his
conversion would lead him to emancipate his slaves, and that, if he did not do
this, it would, at any rate, make him more kind and humane. I was disappointed
in both of these respects. It neither made him to be humane to his
slaves, nor to emancipate them. If it had any effect on his character, it made
him more cruel and hateful in all his ways; for I believe him to have been a
much worse man after his conversion than before. Prior to his conversion, he
relied upon his own depravity to shield and sustain him in his savage
barbarity; but after his conversion, he found religious sanction and support
for his slaveholding cruelty.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This has been
my experience as well. The more “devout” a person is, the better they feel
about their cruelty. I am reminded of an elder of our former church, who made a
fairly big show of bowing to the Lord, and worshiping, but who would then refer
to undocumented immigrant families as “fugitives from justice” and those of us
who would help them as deserving criminal charges. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I also have
observed this in my own parents, who, as they increasingly embraced legalism,
and authoritarian fundamentalism, lost the moral values they instilled in me as
a child. Specifically, they went from people who impressed on me that embrace
of refugees and immigrants was both a core Christian value, but also a core
American value, to calling the existence of other ethnic groups in our country
a “problem” that Trump was finally “doing something about” with his cruel
policies and rhetoric. And saying that the problem with America is that we let
all these refugees in, and we should just “shut that whole thing down.” What
happened???</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This coincided
with the embrace of legalistic rules about music, clothing, and gender roles.
The more “piety,” the less morality. It’s pretty predictable. Legalistic piety
provides the endorphins of being a good person, but without the need to
actually act morally and empathetically. This in turn leads to increasing moral
stupidity, disappearing empathy, and judgmental self-righteousness. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At one point,
Douglass was turned over to a certain Mr. Covey, who was renowned for
“breaking” slaves. Among other things, Covey was fucking his enslaved woman, as
a great many enslavers did - since he wasn’t rich, he bought a “breeder” and
thus increased his stock of enslaved people - his OWN CHILDREN. God, this whole
thing was horrible. And he went to great lengths to deceive his enslaved that
he was leaving, so he could “catch” them slacking off. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Poor man! such was his disposition, and
success at deceiving, I do verily believe that he sometimes deceived himself
into the solemn belief, that he was a sincere worshiper of the most high God;
and this, too, at a time when he may be said to have been guilty of compelling
his woman slave to commit the sin of adultery. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Douglass goes
on to make it clear that his experience of enslavement showed him that
religious people were the worst enslavers. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I assert most unhesitatingly, that the
religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes, - a
justifier of the most appalling barbarity, - a sanctifier of the most hateful
frauds, - and a dark shelter under, which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and
most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection. Were I to be
again reduced to the chains of slavery, next to that enslavement, I should
regard the being the slave of a religious master the greatest calamity that
could befall me. For of all slaveholders with whom I have ever met, religious
slaveholders are the worst. I have ever found them the meanest and basest, the
most cruel and cowardly, of all others. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Unfortunately,
I have found this to be true as well. The most religious of my acquaintance
have tended - on average - to be the worst. The “pillars of the church” keep
turning out to be the most racist, xenophobic, and contemptuous of the
poor. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Douglass ends
the book with an Appendix in which he addresses his harsh words about religion.
He explains that he is not an opponent of religion - in fact, he himself was a
Christian! But the fake-ass “christianity” of the south was a very different
thing, not christ-following at all, but an opiate to dull the consciences of
those who wished to traffic in human bondage. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What I have said respecting and against
religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land,
and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the
Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the
widest possible difference - so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure,
and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To
be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other. I love
the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the
corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and
hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the
most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look
upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the
grossest of all libels. Never was there a clearer case of "stealing the
livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Additionally,
he points out that “revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go
hand in hand together.” History has shown this to be true. The so-called
“Second Great Awakening” in the 1830s, while it initially had some
abolitionists in it, quickly devolved into a war on women (the first abortion
and contraception restrictions in the United States) and specifically on Black
midwives, who, through use of contraceptives, were slowing the rate of
reproduction - a drag on the profits of enslavers who had to breed their way to
prosperity after the end of the Transatlantic trade. It also went hand in
shitty glove with the push to expand slavery to the Western states, the
Fugitive Slave Act, and the Dred Scot decision. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We see this
again today: <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">the rise of the Religious Right was always about racism</span></a>,
and the culture wars that are tearing our country apart are driven by the same
desire for power and dominance over others. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">MAGA
“Christianity” is just more of the same. The same hatred of immigrants, of
black people, of “uppity” women, of LGBTQ people. As Abraham Lincoln said, “it
is the same old serpent.” It is the same anti-christian religion that drove the
Confederacy - it never went away, it just changed names. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I was reminded
of this yet again yesterday when I pushed back at praise of the “He Gets Us”
Super Bowl ads, which are bankrolled by some of the most <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/24073780/he-gets-us-super-bowl-ad-foot-washing-controversy"><span style="color: #1155cc;">hateful and nasty fundamentalists</span></a> in our
country. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was easily
predictable that the religious people in that discussion would dismiss the
funders because “the message is good.” Although I agree with <a href="https://davebarnhart.wordpress.com/2024/02/17/who-gets-to-be-jesus/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Dave Barnhart </span></a>that the message of the ad
itself is problematic because of who gets to “be Jesus.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But also all
too predictable is the guy who insisted that the “real” purveyors of hate in
our country were…..wait for it…..the Black Lives Matter movement, Critical Race
Theory, and Antifa. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Excuse me while
I die laughing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So yeah, people
really puzzled at the backlash, because there are none so blind as those who
refuse to see. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Douglass nailed
it: MAGA “christianity” just like Southern slaveholding “christianity” is
anything but Christian. It is anti-Christ. It is anti-Christianity. It is hate
and supremacy dressing itself in the “livery of heaven” to serve the
Devil. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The election of
Trump due primarily to white Evangelical voters was my moment of moral clarity
- when I saw in my own time what Douglass saw in his. I realized that the
religion I was participating in had no real interest in Christ-following.
Indeed, it wasn’t so much a religion as a political movement - and a nasty,
hateful, racist, xenophobic, misogynist, and anti-LGBTQ one at that. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My family left
organized religion seven years ago because of this, and we have not gone back.
Likely, we never will. At the time, <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2017/11/was-it-worth-it-my-post-election.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">I warned that this was going to cause problems for the
reputation of Christianity</span></a>, and I was very much right. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In fact, the
fact that there is this need to spend $14.5 MILLION dollars on a PR ad is a
pretty good demonstration of this new reality. The mask is off. The hate is
unmistakable. And people like me are left wondering how so many religious
people could have so little fear of God as to think that there will not be
consequences for their embrace of evil. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Douglass’ story
of his life is inspiring, horrifying, informative, but above all, it is the
story of a man, made in God’s image, who devoted his life to fighting the
dehumanization of white supremacy. May we all do the same. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-53551168825808306032024-02-19T13:30:00.000-08:002024-02-19T13:30:26.231-08:00Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Source of book: Borrowed
from the library</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For reasons that escape
me, our library system, which includes most of the San Joaquin Valley and
serves something around 7 million people, took several years to purchase this
book. And even then, it was the smaller city/town of Merced, not Bakersfield, that
did so. Just venting about both the chronic underfunding of Kern County
libraries, and the fact that books of significant merit - that often have long
wait lists - tend to be overlooked when it comes to purchase lists. Come on!
There surely are a lot of us in this area that listen to NPR and check out
thoughtful books! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEVjeLUxxnOUlk4bihVrUVIM6xjJw3uPiJvnlnlaQ8PfgoZ1yrhdYVecgUUkYow6Cw3ZWq-7wRGIEuP-xo7PX0Js6LFMl-Zsw-aftF2DbWGAPnr7-nicbg6-j2fEukD4TvPA6Bvr7nqRS8Wokl0Aw2W67qF-iwU63paZ7dZwypiyxBXWBKXA_Q6Cmlq5HR/s800/Kelly%20Jo%20Ford.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="800" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEVjeLUxxnOUlk4bihVrUVIM6xjJw3uPiJvnlnlaQ8PfgoZ1yrhdYVecgUUkYow6Cw3ZWq-7wRGIEuP-xo7PX0Js6LFMl-Zsw-aftF2DbWGAPnr7-nicbg6-j2fEukD4TvPA6Bvr7nqRS8Wokl0Aw2W67qF-iwU63paZ7dZwypiyxBXWBKXA_Q6Cmlq5HR/w400-h250/Kelly%20Jo%20Ford.jpeg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Anyway, Kelli Jo Ford is
a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and wrote this book, her first, about four
generations of Cherokee women. It grew out of a short story that appeared in
the Paris Review, “<a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/fiction/7288/hybrid-vigor-kelli-jo-ford"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Hybrid Vigor</span></a>,” which was later supplemented
with other stories that eventually turned into this book. The story was clearly
too big to fit in a small format. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The way the book came to
be, though, did lead to one of the book’s flaws: two of the chapters, while
they are related to the main narrative, feel out of place and not really
relevant to the rest of the book. These are the chapter from the point of view
of the father of one of the main character’s husband, and the chapter about the
lesbian couple and the young man who assists them. Nothing wrong with the
stories, but they seem like digressions that never end up adding to the rest of
the narrative. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The other flaw that I
found is that the male characters seem flat and static. The two chapters I
mentioned above are the only ones told from the point of view of a male
character, but they never feel like we get inside the characters’ heads like we
do with the female characters in the rest of the book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">That said, my overall
impression of the book was positive. The writing is good, and the central story
is compelling. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There are four
generations of women - the grandmother, who seems to be the most wise and
stable of the four, and the one who has adapted best to her abandonment by a
flaky man. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Lula, the mother, is also
abandoned by her husband, but takes things extremely poorly indeed. After a
mental breakdown, she gives up her former dreams and becomes a religious
fanatic, deeply involved in the Holiness Church, and forces her daughters to wear
long dresses and give up secular music, books, and movies. (This actually felt
familiar, for reasons that will be obvious to regular readers of this blog. As
did, unfortunately, the way that religious fundamentalism turns people mean and
hateful.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Justine, the youngest of
Lula’s daughters, is one of the two main protagonists in the book. At age 14,
she starts to push boundaries, and sneaks out late at night with a man in his
20s, who proceeds to rape her. Finding herself pregnant, she and Lula incur the
wrath of the Holiness church for a while. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Justine, unfortunately,
continues to make poor decisions, marrying two worthless men in succession. The
first is outright drunk and abusive, the other a bit nicer, but lazy and self-absorbed.
With this second husband, Pitch, Justine is on again, off again, moving back
and forth between Texas and Pitch’s family, and Lula’s house. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Justine’s daughter,
Reney, is the other main protagonist. She starts off following in her mother’s
footsteps, although she does avoid pregnancy (and eventually gets sterilized.)
Her first marriage is also abusive, but she is strong enough to leave him eventually,
and her second husband is fine, although he seems unsure of what to do with
Reney at times. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Most of the book feels
like normal literary fiction, with realistic scenarios and events. At the end,
though, the world - or at least north Texas - turns into an apocalypse, with
wildfires and the seeming end of the world. The writing starts to feel more
symbolic and almost approaching magical realism. The end seems a nod in the
direction of <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/01/one-hundred-years-of-solitude-by.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">100 Years of Solitude</span></i></a>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In my opinion, the
strength of the book is in its nuanced portrayal of the cycles of trauma,
violence, abandonment, and poverty. Ford also understands the deep connection
between childhood trauma and religious addiction, the way that certain people
self-medicate their pain with rule-based and self-loathing religious
belief. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Lula reminded me so much
of my own mother, who channeled her pain from neglectful and emotionally
abusive parents (she was the unwanted and unloved child) into a fanatical
devotion to making God love her the way her father never did. As in the case of
Lula, this meant an increasing embrace of legalism and separation from
mainstream culture - and the need to force her children to do the same. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As with any drug,
religious addiction requires larger and larger doses as time goes on. More
self-flagellation, more restrictive rules, more control of self and others -
pleasing God takes ever-increasing sacrifices. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There were quite a number
of good lines in the book. I kind of identified with the younger Justine,
before she drifted back in the direction of becoming her mother. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Justine had fought her at every turn. It might as well
have been written. Justine wasn’t her sisters, wasn’t wired to go along with
things for the sake of comfort. In that way, she was as religious as
Lula. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Yeah, that was - and is
-me. I never could just go along for the sake of comfort. But Reney is like me
too - and like her mother in many ways. Pitch and his family are white - and
more than a bit Texas Redneck white - but they do take in Reney, even though
they say appallingly racist stuff about Native Americans in casual conversation. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Nina had captured every John Wayne movie ever made and
labeled each one in her perfect cursive. Reney did her best to watch them all
that summer. She cheered for the Indians, though she knew John Wayne would
always end up the hero. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Hey, should I mention
here that <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2021/10/jesus-and-john-wayne-by-kristin-kobes.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">Jesus and John Wayne</span></i></a> is a good book?
Anyway, the years where things were happy between Justine and Pitch and Nina
was still alive were those that Reney considered her best. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This was something like the family Reney always
wanted, the one living out these evenings when the beer brought happy and
nobody was talking about finding work or trying to coerce anybody to be
something they weren’t. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Yeah, that would be nice
too - I wish I could go back to when my family was that way, before Gothard.
But also, these days were rare for Reney. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But when the happy spilled over and the voices grew
sharp, Reney would tuck her tied patch quilt under her arm and write Justine
and Pitch a note that she was going to watch movies with Nina. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The problem with Pitch is
the problem with so many men: he wanted to raise horses rather than get a job,
even though the horses were a money pit and only brought financial pain. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Justine’s first husband
was an abusive piece of shit, but she married him in part to get away from
Lula. And Reney does the same with her first. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Her mom…forbade Reney to see him, swore she’d kill
him. If it wasn’t the heartfelt letters that brought them back together, her
mom’s mandate must have.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This is the conundrum of
parents. The catch-22 when it comes to the love lives of one’s children. You of
course hope for good choices, but interfering can also have the opposite result
from that intended. I’m not referring to anything in particular with my kids,
but just to parental anxiety more generally. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">While I felt the chapter
on the lesbian couple, Stevie and Marni, didn’t fit the rest of the book, it
was interesting as a stand-alone vignette. In fact, I was disappointed that
they only got a passing reference for the rest of the book. It would have been
interesting if they had been interwoven with the full story. The scene where
Mose meets them is pretty funny. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mose studied his thumb. “You said y’all are <i>partners?</i>”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Stevie looked up from her boots and shook her head,
giving Marni an I-told-you-so look.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yes, honey,” Marni began. “We’re partners.” She
sighed and began again. “In the sense that we can’t get legally married because
the state of Texas is just short of the Dark Ages when it comes to these
things? Stevie is my wife. I’m hers. I thought that was clear yesterday.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’m sorry,” Mose said. “I didn’t know ladies could
marry like that.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Ladies can’t marry like <i>that</i>,” Stevie said,
“Not here.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’m real sorry,” Mose said, stepping toward the door.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Sorry for what?” Marni said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“I don’t know,” Mose said. “I didn’t know. I never…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Met lesbians before?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“I guess not.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I also want to mention
the scene where Justine is going through Lula’s stuff, and finds an old picture
of Reney. As my kids transition to adulthood, I am feeling a lot of these
feels:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Her Reney, who after high school had become such a
hard woman, so cautious with money and closed off. Sometimes it seemed this kid
she’d more or less grown up with, the girl she loved and fought with and rocked
in the night - her daughter, her very soul - was a whole different
person. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Again, not the specifics,
but normal separation. Kids that you used to be close to are out living their
own lives, making their own friends, and doing the <i>normal</i> separation
from parents. It’s bittersweet, because this is life and you want them to fly,
but you still miss the little kids that were. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The context of this,
though, is that Lula, now in her 80s, has had a stroke which is the beginning
of the end for her. I have to back up though. Lula has epilepsy, and refuses
medication, even though she has injured herself multiple times, crashed vehicles,
and generally experienced negative consequences. Like other Holiness believers,
she refuses modern medicine. Justine realizes it stems from the trauma of being
left by her husband. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There were the nervous breakdowns. Forty years of
loneliness and untreated seizures. The miracle of antiepileptic drugs she
wouldn’t take because Moses didn’t think to bring them up in Deuteronomy. And
now this stroke. If she could talk, I know she’d say, “Count it all joy.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I am glad that, although
my parents certainly have swallowed a LOT of the “alternative medicine” crap,
at least my mom takes her anti-seizure meds, after a frightening experiment of
going off them when I was a teen. And also that we got our vaccines as kids,
even though they and my sister have now gone full-on anti-vax as part of the
detachment from reality the American Right has embraced in the Trump Era. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There is another line in
this section that stunned me. Justine is talking with a doctor about the
therapy needed by her mother after the stroke. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">He says, “A stroke of this magnitude often makes a
person combative who never was before.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“It must be a miracle,” I say. “Because Mama has come
through this as mean as ever.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">You know, it has been
hard for me to admit this, even to myself, but my mother is mean. And really
always has been, although it was better regulated when she was younger. It
really came out in her treatment of my wife, but as time has gone on, she has
mostly gotten bolder in saying mean things and in refusing to disguise her
contempt for people different from her. Unfortunately, I see a lot of her in
Lula. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I am reminded as well of
the difference between being nice and being kind. They are not the same.
Religious fundamentalism - which <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-i-mean-by-fundamentalism.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">isn’t about doctrine but about culture, politics, and
power</span></a> - can often be “nice.” But it is never kind. My mom
often comes off as “nice,” but if you choose to do things differently from how
she thinks you should, the “nice” goes away really fast, replaced by
meanness. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">And, looking back,
fundamentalism made all of my family - including myself - think and say some
really mean, cruel things about a lot of people, even - believe it or not - <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2013/08/cancer-and-quest-for-guarantee.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">cancer victims</span></a>. I am ashamed of what I have
thought and said, but it was so easy when I was still trying to believe
fundamentalist teachings, to not even notice one’s own cruelty. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Kindness requires
empathy, the ability to understand and fully accept people who are different
from you. This is death to fundamentalist legalism, of course - which is why
fundamentalist religion has to work so hard to create a pathological lack of
empathy in its followers. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Justine flashes back to a
bad memory, when she had a fight with Lula over religion, and finally got
frustrated enough to say “I don’t need your prayers.” And also this:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“We’re all going to die, Mama. But I want to live.
Some ain’t in for an illusion.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">And at that, Lula goes
apeshit and starts beating her until she is unconscious. I’m big enough to
avoid physical punishment now, but if my mother ever does the
passive-aggressive “I’m praying for you” thing again, I am definitely telling
her I don’t need or want her prayers. I don’t need anyone trying to convince
their imaginary sky daddy that I - or my wife and kids - should be forced to be
like my mother. Nope. Nope. Nope. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[Note: my religious
beliefs are complicated these days, but I am fully sure that if God exists, he
isn’t the <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2019/07/james-dobson-and-spiritual-pornography.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">racist</span></a> and <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2013/07/on-domestic-violence-how-conservative.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">misogynist</span></a> <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/04/converts-or-disciples-part-4.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">psychopath</span></a> that white Evangelicalism says he
is…] </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">And also this:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Like a big old baby, I hurt for the little girl I was
and wonder who she could have been without the Bible, without sickness, without
so much by-God loss. But without the things that make us who we are, we’re
nothing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I too wonder what I would
have been, without Gothard and Dobson and their toxic interpretations of the Bible.
But I am who I am in part because of my pain. <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-haunted-man-by-charles-dickens.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Charles Dickens wrote a book about that</span></a>, by
the way, and there was a Star Trek movie with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ABLYnvpAso"><span style="color: #1155cc;">a
similar conclusion by Captain Kirk</span></a>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Perhaps one could say
this is the theme of the book. Pain makes us who we are, for good and
ill. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I guess I will end with
an observation during the final pages. With the apocalypse has come religious
nut-jobs, with their assault weapons signs and hate. They have attempted to
rename the town of Bonita, because it is in Spanish. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">On the last stretch into Bonita a hand-painted sign
warns: WELCOME TO PRETTY. SLOW DOWN - ROUGH GOING. Mother warned us that a
small group of white locals have taken it upon themselves to expunge foreign
words from the English language, hoping, I guess, that the coming God is a
white supremacist too and that he appreciates their attention to detail. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Yeah, that’s exactly what
I think MAGA “christianity” is all about. They really do believe God is as much
of a white supremacist, misogynist, xenophobic, homophobic, and transphobic
dick as they are, and will appreciate their attention to detail. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I haven’t even gotten
into the constant low-level racism that Ford describes as part of the Native
American experience - she shows rather than tells, but it is definitely there
in a non-preachy way.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s a good book, and a
pretty quick read. If you are looking to add Native American authors to your
reading list, put this one on. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-42883291271203764552024-02-14T15:23:00.000-08:002024-02-14T15:23:32.894-08:00Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />Source of book:
I own this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Mules and Men</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
is the first of my two official <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/p/black-history-month-book-list.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Black History Month</span></a> selections this year. I
have previously read two Zora Neale Hurston books: her best known novel, <i>Their
Eyes Were Watching God</i>, and her story of Oluale Kossola, one of the last
Africans transported to the United States as an enslaved person, <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2024/01/barracoon-story-of-last-black-cargo-by.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">Barracoon</span></i></a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Those two books
encapsulate Hurston’s two careers. She is best known now as a novelist, but her
work as a cultural anthropologist was arguably as important. <i>Mules and Men</i>
is part of her work in the latter field. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yoIrN9mMdjQxA9yJuk42VJTXiSpBgLdsPiXa2l8PYfVcoKoBmyXTx5SYlA5uPH-orXXCUMYeUDbweom2zaBMGhU8uOjyxojPKRfseuj8pLKbheIX0YLRvYIHMYsCwVKT3LL9HD_dbU-ZF37jcFO4L-nhThcDphSnnR70gNuLbzByjZZtgNd2Hss4HhLY/s400/Mules%20and%20Men.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="244" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8yoIrN9mMdjQxA9yJuk42VJTXiSpBgLdsPiXa2l8PYfVcoKoBmyXTx5SYlA5uPH-orXXCUMYeUDbweom2zaBMGhU8uOjyxojPKRfseuj8pLKbheIX0YLRvYIHMYsCwVKT3LL9HD_dbU-ZF37jcFO4L-nhThcDphSnnR70gNuLbzByjZZtgNd2Hss4HhLY/s320/Mules%20and%20Men.jpg" width="195" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The book is
divided into two parts. The first is all about the folk tales and stories she
collected in her Florida hometown. The second is about Hoodoo (what white
people call Voodoo) in New Orleans. Both are attempts to preserve black folk
culture, but are rather different. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The “Tall Tale”
genre is really an American original, transcending race and geography. From the
Paul Bunyan tales of the northern Midwest to the mining camp tales collected by
<a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-celebrated-jumping-frog-of.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Mark Twain</span></a> and Bret Harte among others, to a
modern version in <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2014/07/reading-with-my-kids-homer-price-and.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">Homer Price</span></i></a>. (My wife pointed that one
out…) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But perhaps the
best known are the tall tales told by African Americans as part of a coping
mechanism - the stories of underdogs who outwit those in power. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are three
antecedents for the genre. The Baron von Münchhausen tales of Germany contain
many of the elements - the outrageous exploits, the impossible situations, the
exaggeration. Both Native American and African cultures have “trickster” tales,
featuring the coyote in the first case, and either the spider Anansi or the
rabbit or the “Gopher” (meaning tortoise) in the latter. The trickster rabbit
translated directly into Brer Rabbit, whose adventures were collected by Joel
Chandler Harris. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">While there is
some overlap in the types, the genre took on a distinct and unmistakable
American form in the “lying” contests, the oneupmanship of who can tell the
tallest tale, the most outrageous “lie,” concoct the most exaggerated
idea. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hurston doesn’t
just tell the tales, but she tells about how she collected them. Rather than
appear as an academic, she went among her own folk, so to speak, and listened.
The first part of the book is thus a story of her interactions with the tale
tellers, the men and women themselves, with their own stories going on, from
fishing to feuds, interspersed with longer tales and short one sentence tall
tales and general banter. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At the time,
she was criticized for this format, although in retrospect it is a lot more fun
to read - and arguably more complete - than a more formalized academic style
would have been. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The second part
is more serious. Hurston apprenticed herself to several hoodoo practitioners,
eventually becoming proficient enough to be offered an apprenticeship - which
she turned down reluctantly. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have mixed
feelings about the hoodoo section. On the one hand, it is an impressive bit of
anthropology, a front-row view of a subculture that I was not all that familiar
with. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On the other, I
am no fan of superstition, having been raised in a subculture that put a lot of
stock in the unseen supernatural, with demons lurking around every corner, in
every bit of secular culture, in books, in movies, in music, and it was all too
easy to “catch” one and ruin your life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hurston takes
hoodoo very seriously, as if it actually worked, which is odd considering her
rejection of religion and the supernatural in other contexts. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My biggest
problem with that belief is the obvious one that if hoodoo works, couldn’t
someone have put a death curse on Donald Trump by now? All the hoodoo doctors,
all the witches, all the supposed dealers in the supernatural, and nobody can
put a hex on this guy? It’s not like he is a devout Christian - quite the
opposite. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And, for that
matter, why were the white enslavers seemingly exempt? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This, to me, is
the problem with all superstition - from hoodoo to demonology to “alternative
medicine” - between confirmation bias and the placebo effect and the fact that
only people who believe seem to see any results, good or bad, there really
isn’t any “there” there. There is no empirical evidence to back up the claims,
despite it being VERY easy to set up controlled experiments. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hoodoo isn’t
real for the same reason that witches aren’t real and homeopathy is bullshit.
And I will stand by that until empirical evidence - controlled, repeatable
studies - are produced. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That said,
setting aside the issues of veracity, as an account of what people believe,
say, and do, it is quite fascinating. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the
introduction, Hurston notes the problem of collecting folklore: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Folk-lore is not as easy to collect as
it sounds. The best source is where there are the least outside influences and
these people, being usually under-privileged, are the shyest. They are most
reluctant at times to reveal that which the soul lives by.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In the case of
black folk, they are particularly reluctant to give white folk an inside
view. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The theory behind our tactics: “The
white man is always trying to know into somebody else’s business. All right,
I’ll set something outside the door of my mind for him to play with and handle.
He can read my writing but he sho’ can’t read my mind. I’ll put this play toy
in his hand, and he will seize it and go away. Then I’ll have my say and sing
my song.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Keep this in
mind when it comes to commercial music as well. The real hip hop and the real
blues aren’t made for white people to consume. (This is not to say that there
is no value in commercial music - just don’t assume you are getting an inside
look.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I want to
mention a few stock characters in the folk tales. Brer Rabbit likely needs no
introduction. I also mentioned that in this book, whenever you see “gopher,” it
is referring, not to a member of the ground squirrel family, but to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_tortoise"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Gopher
Tortoise</span></a>. As a character, Brer Gopher is a counterpart to Brer
Rabbit - a trickster lacking speed but long on brains. Also, one of the
funniest stories is where the Devil tries to imitate God and make a turtle, but
ends up making a gopher instead. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are some
human stock characters. John Henry was originally an African American
character, akin to Casey Jones - the legend that grew out of the real-life
person. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In contrast,
John is a stock character going further back and based entirely on mythology.
John is the ur-trickster, the cunning man who can outwit the Devil - and indeed
God himself on occasion. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is John who
becomes Johnny in “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” While Charlie Daniels
claimed he made up the story, it appeared in print in a poem by <a href="https://www.yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp?poem_id=1932"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Stephen Vincent Benet</span></a>, who in turn borrowed
whole phrases in the poem from well-known tall tales. There is a tale in this
book that is fairly similar to the song, and it is clear enough that the tale
has been around a long time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another note on
this: There has been a tendency for white people to focus on the European roots
of Bluegrass music and Country music, while ignoring the black roots. I
recently had a brief argument with a friend of a friend about this, who
disputed that Country had its roots in swing and blues. This is an easy mistake
to make. The genre we recognize today is indeed a fusion of “old time” music by
European immigrants and swing and blues. This fusion occurred in the 1930s and
40s, and is obvious in the music by the big names of the era such as Bob Wills
and Roy Rodgers. But only the white branch counts, right? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A similar thing
happened with Bluegrass, which is another fusion genre. Irish and Scottish
immigrants to the Appalachians brought their folk music with them, but
Bluegrass differs from either of those because of certain elements that came in
from black musicians. The banjo is an African instrument, modified to use local
materials. The fiddle styles that are uniquely Bluegrass were developed by
black fiddle players during the slavery era. It was the <i>fusion</i> of the
two branches that created what we have today, and tracing <i>only</i> the white
branch is an inaccurate whitewashing all too typical of white America. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John appears in
many of the tales in this book. Sometimes he is a slave outwitting his
enslaver. Sometimes he is a poor man outwitting the Devil. Sometimes he is an
average guy trying to get away from a nagging wife. But he lives by his wits
throughout, and could be seen as a less metaphorical version of Brer Rabbit -
always the plucky black folk finding a way. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll mention
another where John is played for humor as much as anything. John becomes a
victim of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Johnstown Flood</span></a>, and goes to heaven. To his
surprise, nobody wants to hear his story. St. Peter eventually realizes that he
was trying to tell Noah about it, and “You can’t tell <i>him</i> nothin’ ‘bout
no flood.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I also enjoyed
a particular passage where Hurston recounts a conversation about
preachers. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Aw, Ah don’t pay all dese ole
preachers no rabbit-foot. Some of ‘em is all right but everybody dats up in de
pulpit whoopin’ and hollerin’ ain’t called to preach.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“They ain’t no different from nobody
else. They mouth is cut cross ways, ain’t it? Well, long as you don’t see no
man wid they mouth cut up and down, you know they’ll lie jus’ like de rest of
us.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I appreciated
that Hurston includes stories told by women as well. It isn’t just the good old
boys shooting bull, but a whole community that enjoys telling tall tales - and
pushing back at the men. Here is the opening of one of the “<a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2020/05/just-so-stories-by-rudyard-kipling.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">just so stories</span></a>” told by one Mathilda:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You see in de very first days, God made
a man and a woman and put ‘em in a house together to live. ‘Way back in them
days de woman was just as strong as de man and both of ‘em did de same things.
They useter get to fussin’ bout who gointer do this and that and sometime
they’d fight, but they was even balanced and neither one could whip de other
one. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My personal
belief is that every single one of our cultural myths about male supremacy and
gender roles comes directly from the fact that human males are - on average -
bigger and stronger. When we evolved to the point of rationality, males still
wanted dominance, but needed better reasons than “I’m bigger and stronger.”
Hence, millennia of religious, philosophical, and intellectual justifications
for the subordination of women. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I also have to
include this story, of Hurston’s experience visiting a lumber camp:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They all thought I must be a revenue
officer or a detective of some kind. They were accustomed to strange women
dropping into the quarters, but not in shiny gray Chevrolets. They usually came
plodding down the big road or counting railroad ties. The car made me look too
prosperous. So they set me aside as different. And since most of them were
fugitives from justice or had done plenty time, a detective was just the last
thing they felt they needed on that “job.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I took occasion that night to impress
the job with the fact that I was also a fugitive from justice, “bootlegging.”
They were hot behind me in Jacksonville and they wanted me in Miami, So I was
hiding out. That sounded reasonable. Bootleggers always have cars. I was taken
in. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later, she is
with a group of people waiting for a “job” from the mill, which never comes.
They end up going fishing, because, he, got eat, right? Anyway, this line is
hilarious:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Must be something terrible when white
folks get slow about putting us to work.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Don’t never worry about work. There’s
more work in de world than there is anything else. God made de world and de
white folks made work.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And, another
observation on white folk:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“You bad as white folks. You know they
say a white man git in some kind of trouble, he’ll fret and fret until he kill
hisself.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I can’t resist
mentioning that there is a story in here about a goat. Most of us know it
through<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ9oxy38-kA"><span style="color: #1155cc;"> the old nursery song</span></a>. But yep, that one is
also an African American folk story.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another line
that stood out was this one:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“You gittin’ old, Jim, when you can’t
stand good lyin’. It’s jus’ like sound doctrine. Everybody can’t stand it.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The final
chapter of this section involves a visit to a “jook joint,” which culminates in
a general brawl. Between the card games, the music, and the booze, things get a
bit heated. This book was researched during prohibition, so it was all illicit
stuff. And the recipe sounds ghastly:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Somebody had squeezed the alcohol out
of several cans of Sterno and added sugar, water, and boiled-off spirits of
nitre and called it wine. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In case it
wasn’t obvious, DO NOT DO THIS! Sterno contains a proportion of methyl alcohol,
which is toxic and can cause death or blindness. Blues musician Tommy Johnson
sang about this back in the day, with “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHw1ugBLS5g"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Canned
Heat Blues</span></a>.” And yes, the band Canned Heat took their name from the
old blues song. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Spirits of
nitre - aka Ethyl nitrite - is bad stuff too, even if it has been used as a
folk remedy for cold and flu. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">During the
brawl, a woman who has taken an inexplicable dislike to Hurston tries to attack
her with a knife. Another woman, Big Sweet, defends Zora, and ends up defusing
the situation. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“You wuz noble!” Joe Williard told her.
“You wuz a whole woman and half uh man.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I didn’t note
that much from the hoodoo section. As I said, it was interesting, but not as
fun as the folk tales. I did want to note some observations that Hurston had
about hoodoo and religion generally. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hoodoo, or Voodoo, as pronounced by the
whites, is burning with a flame in America, with all the intensity of a
suppressed religion. It has thousands of secret adherents. It adapts itself
like Christianity to its locale, reclaiming some of its borrowed characteristics
to itself. Such as fire-worship as signified in the Christian church by the
altar and the candles. And the belief in the power of water to sanctify as in
baptism. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Nobody knows for sure how many
thousands in America are warmed by the fire of hoodoo, because the worship is
bound in secrecy. It is not the accepted theology of the Nation and so
believers conceal their faith. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are some
fascinating truths here. First of all, there is no such thing as a “pure”
religion. Every single religion that we have knowledge of is syncretistic - it
combines elements of old and new, and mixes and matches from the traditions
that came before. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Christianity is
not exempt, and neither is Judaism. From the very first pages of scripture,
there is a borrowing from the pagan Ancient Near East myths - the creation, the
flood, the battle between chaos and order, the rituals of fire and water,
animal (and human) sacrifices, the cycles of sun, moon, and stars. Even
polytheism survives well into the Hebrew scriptures. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Likewise, the
Christianity we see around us has borrowed liberally from pagan European
beliefs and rituals. Our holidays were largely stolen from older cultures, our
symbols and rituals owe much to pre-Christian symbols and rituals. If you want
to look at more modern examples, American Christianity draws on uniquely
American myths, from the supposed inspiration of the Founding Fathers to the
syncretistic worship of Capitalism and the Market which is ever-present in our
civic religious expression. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is no
such thing as a pure religion. It is all bound to culture, the past, and the
traditions that are a part of both. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that’s
BEFORE you look at supposedly core theological beliefs such as the
subordination of women, gender essentialism, heterosexual supremacy, and all
that goes with that. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hurston’s
stories about her experience with hoodoo makes it clear that there is a
syncretism here too - the blending of Christianity with African traditions.
Again, this is no different from the way that Christianity blended with
European traditions. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Both are
thoroughly superstitious, just in different cultural expressions. There is no
meaningful difference in believing that you will catch a demon through reading
Harry Potter and that a hoodoo doctor put a curse on you. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The fact that
hoodoo only “works” within the community of those who believe it, and that only
a certain subculture of fundamentalist Christians ever experiences “demon
possession” makes it clear that the real effect is psychological. What we
believe affects our psyches, and superstitious beliefs can create very real
effects in our brains and bodies. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Deprogramming
from superstition has been a part of my deconstructive process, which is
probably why the hoodoo section struck me as a bit too credulous and not
skeptical enough. But, I understand that Hurston, whatever her personal
beliefs, couldn’t have gained access to the rituals she wanted to describe
without fully going along with the beliefs. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Mules and Men</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
is an interesting book, effectively written, and with a true “insider”
perspective that is rare. It is worth a read. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-13470848260016660422024-02-13T11:07:00.000-08:002024-02-13T11:07:40.205-08:00The Old Woman With the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Source of book: Audiobook from the
library<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This book was listed by NPR as a
potential “summer beach read” alongside a bunch of lighter genre fare. It
sounded a bit different from the others, and, since I am always on the lookout
for interesting books in translation, I put it on my list. With my newly
reactivated Los Angeles County library card, I was able to listen to it during
my commute. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg816Jf-q-pePqCgof84guyi4ovgMut6vKFrqBEFbdzcGTU8BvIyPSwB0R9GMEDX5yYNbSzRrzL6TjcScmA0BF0WmFUb7yCDtgnHzgWSvwn-nNhwMECLLXaDDYfHZ4q_C7dq6ON4TYAIJ66muLzk0qzWHGe4DUf4k0VYRusuXA7oYljlVUYwiz7FlK490z_/s1280/The%20Old%20Woman%20With%20the%20Knife.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg816Jf-q-pePqCgof84guyi4ovgMut6vKFrqBEFbdzcGTU8BvIyPSwB0R9GMEDX5yYNbSzRrzL6TjcScmA0BF0WmFUb7yCDtgnHzgWSvwn-nNhwMECLLXaDDYfHZ4q_C7dq6ON4TYAIJ66muLzk0qzWHGe4DUf4k0VYRusuXA7oYljlVUYwiz7FlK490z_/s320/The%20Old%20Woman%20With%20the%20Knife.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It is a bit difficult to classify
this book. On the surface, it is a genre fiction story about an old woman who
is coming to the end of her career as an assassin. One could call it a “one
last case” story. <br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But it is more than that. The
central character (who goes by the alias of Hornclaw) is a far more developed
protagonist than most genre assassins, with a rich inner life, and complexity
of motive. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The book also focuses a lot on
aging, and the invisibility that aging brings, particularly for women. It
raises the question of love and sexuality for older women, and the inevitable
breakdown of our bodies, even the most fit among us. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">All of this makes a ruthless
assassin who works for a morally repugnant family firm in what they
euphemistically refer to as “disease control” a surprisingly sympathetic
character. And this despite feeling bad for most of her victims - neither she
nor the reader knows who put the hit on them or why. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For Hornclaw, she has several
problems. First is that the family firm she has worked for nearly all her life
(since her abandonment by her parents and extended family) is gentrifying -
becoming corporate and faceless. As a result, she is increasingly viewed as a
relic of a past time, an old woman who may still be effective, but is showing
signs of vulnerability. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Second, after an unfortunate
injury during a job, she has come into contact with a younger, widowed doctor,
and has developed feelings for him and his family. Which is a very bad thing
for an assassin - feelings make you vulnerable. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Third, for reasons she does not
understand, one of her co-workers hates her and keeps provoking her in an
escalating yet puzzling and seemingly senseless manner. What IS his problem
with her anyway? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The original title of the book was
originally <i>Pagwa</i> - “bruised fruit” - which is part of the plot as well
as a metaphor for Hornclaw’s aging. I think it is a better title, honestly, but
perhaps the marketing powers that be figured American audiences wanted
something more lurid. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">What the book does have - and I
think this might deserve a warning - is some really graphic violence, including
violence against women and children. There is also an attempted rape of a child
- that’s how the young Hornclaw discovers her abilities and her life calling,
so to speak. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The writing is better than average
for genre fiction - straddling that line between genre and literary writing. As
translated by Chi-Young Kim, the author’s unique style - and some similarities
to other books translated for Korean I have read - come through. The audiobook
is narrated by Nancy Wu, and the production quality is excellent, so this isn’t
a bad book to experience that way. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>The Old Woman With the Knife</i>
is an unexpected take on the assassin genre, and a different sort of book than
one commonly finds when reading books by American authors. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For a rather different book
translated from Korean, my older kids and I thought <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-vegetarian-by-han-kang.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Vegetarian</span></i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> by Han Kang</span></a></span> to
be a thought-provoking read. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-11713387109694304212024-02-12T15:15:00.000-08:002024-02-12T15:25:13.243-08:00The Heavens' Favorite Murderess (Stage Hungry 2024)<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Bakersfield’s local theater scene
has come back with a vengeance after the pandemic, and our local artists seem
to have gained a renewed passion for storytelling, particularly those stories
they always wanted to tell but which might have seemed more risky. In this
case, a new endeavor by Mariah Jordan - Stage Hungry - combined food, art, and
drama to great effect. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I’ll recommend the <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/arts-theater/hungry-for-innovative-theater-with-new-company/article_79a7a22c-c54b-11ee-83db-cb1a7b680dec.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Bakersfield Californian’s</span></i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> article for more on the
background</span></a></span>, and just add that we saw one of two nights at the
small Stars Playhouse space, and that the food was tasty. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I was trying to think back to what
I last saw Mariah Jordan (also billed as Mariah Bathe) in, and it turns out it
was a pair of plays back in 2018: <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2018/10/measure-for-measure-bakersfield-college.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Measure for Measure</span></i></a></span>
at Bakersfield College, and <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2018/03/three-sisters-by-anton-chekhov-sarah.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Three Sisters</span></i></a></span>
at The Empty Space. It is good to see her back on stage - and, as it turns out,
in other roles as well. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Also great to see again after a
few years was Ryan Lee, who lit up local stages for a few years in roles like <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2017/10/dolly-hamlet-and-frankenstein.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Hamlet</span></i></a></span>
before departing to continue his education. Since there wasn’t a program, I
confess that, other than Shelbie McClaine, the names of the other actors in
this small (7 actor) production elude me. So I’ll just go with “great job to
all” for the other parts. Also nice job by director Bethany Lahammer for a great staging. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>The Heavens’ Favorite Murderess</i>
is an adaptation of <i>Medea</i>, best known in its version by Eurpides. I r<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2013/01/medea-by-euripides.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">ead and wrote about it</span></a></span>
over a decade ago (is it really that long ago???) It definitely stuck with me,
and I count it as one of my favorites of the ancient Greek plays. (I also think
<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2019/10/antigone-by-sophokles-anne-carson.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Antigone</span></i></a></span> is
better than <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2021/07/oedipus-rex-by-sophocles.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Oedipus Rex</span></i></a></span>…I
love the strong and intelligent women in both.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The art of staging <i>Medea</i> is
a difficult one. Many of the values that the Greeks took for granted feel odd
2500 years later, and thus the motivations of the characters can feel elusive.
In this case, the idea of a mother murdering her children is shocking (although
it still is done today.)<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But Medea is also a strikingly
modern protagonist. She is the breadwinner in the family, so to speak, having
enabled the ostensible “hero,” Jason, to defeat all odds. She gives him all the
cheat codes to solve the quest, uses her inside information to betray her
family so Jason can escape, and even murders her own brother. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And all this, for love. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4tcwsFxdqNaNWDNszgS0fKRitRWEWz4SImT-m3SXQB2J7HQkLhJApsblwxod3gh107brjrj9y_Vl7CDDEn4kVEkhcvb-eo2mqrWFLlho4Qavx99wznwnOoJmN72-MNcqjnfMXvWjQ9oy2VPWSe9x_ky64qPHKsZ4iTWHiO0heexBdq2456FQE2FrZ1yG/s1024/Heavens'%20Favorite%20Murderess%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4tcwsFxdqNaNWDNszgS0fKRitRWEWz4SImT-m3SXQB2J7HQkLhJApsblwxod3gh107brjrj9y_Vl7CDDEn4kVEkhcvb-eo2mqrWFLlho4Qavx99wznwnOoJmN72-MNcqjnfMXvWjQ9oy2VPWSe9x_ky64qPHKsZ4iTWHiO0heexBdq2456FQE2FrZ1yG/s320/Heavens'%20Favorite%20Murderess%202.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Medea and Jason in better times...<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Jason, like fragile men then and
now, prefers to be the hero - the sole hero, with no need to admit that the
woman did it all for him. Medea thus becomes a burden, rather than the equal
badass partner she could have been for him. And, like men then and now, he
finds a younger, more submissive woman to replace her. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So, how to put this difficult,
shocking, and yet incredibly powerful story on the stage? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Mariah Jordan read four different
translations of Euripides’ play, and wrote a modernized adaptation. And, I must
say, it is excellent. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The chorus parts feel the most
different, as they reflect our modern values more than that of the Greek honor
culture. But the central dialogues between Medea and Jason are both modern in
language and faithful to the original. All of the necessary elements are there:
the ambiguity about Jason’s motives - was his new marriage a political alliance
or a hot new honey? - Jason’s discomfort with sharing glory, Medea’s passionate
and irrational love for the unworthy Jason now turned to hate, and the strange
chemistry that still exists between the former lovers. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It was an impressive job at
adaptation and creation, and thoroughly satisfying as a theater
experience. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The small space also contributed
to the power of the play. The actors were close enough to touch, which let them
use an expanded dynamic range. Both Jordan as Medea and Lee as Jason were able
to speak barely above a whisper, which was more devastating than when they
yelled at each other. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Lee and Jordan had excellent
chemistry, and brought out the complexities of two flawed characters who manage
to destroy everything around them. And yet, Medea wins the approval of the
gods? That may be the central mystery of the play. How is it that a woman,
wronged though she was, who chooses to burn her world down around her (as if
she were a man, no less!) escapes the censure that the heroes of Greek tragedy
cannot? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_-VnuO4FaeekD21dzRMk3KWjktVX2nPbXeG87iZ03Km4wp3H3tww2Hk8hF-OZ3jZq4hHWMn9c15MXguNkK27UFYhH1AQg180GECHkdk7TVvSeP5Uu4YXkSitEpHuF7cAfgHaUDwkdmizhOOdzKN4UxlQL8qkgwA7vJU4pukI1rltaelbb-GTOjLG3CEk7/s2000/Heavens'%20Favorite%20Murderess%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1545" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_-VnuO4FaeekD21dzRMk3KWjktVX2nPbXeG87iZ03Km4wp3H3tww2Hk8hF-OZ3jZq4hHWMn9c15MXguNkK27UFYhH1AQg180GECHkdk7TVvSeP5Uu4YXkSitEpHuF7cAfgHaUDwkdmizhOOdzKN4UxlQL8qkgwA7vJU4pukI1rltaelbb-GTOjLG3CEk7/s320/Heavens'%20Favorite%20Murderess%201.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Medea and her children<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The aftermath of the play is
fascinating to me. While not contained within the play, Euripides could
presumably count on his audience to know both the back story: the golden
fleece, the <i>Argos</i>, the dragon’s teeth, and all that - and also the
sequelae to events of the play. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Medea, despite her valid fears
that abandonment by Jason would mean great hardship, managed to land on her
feet. The king of Athens takes her in, marries her, and they have a son,
replacing (so to speak) the sons of Jason who she murdered. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Jason’s fate is sadder. While in a
different version of the myth, one of his sons escapes Medea’s murderous knife,
Jason himself never remarries. The gods no longer smile on him, and he dies
lonely, still obsessed with the glory of the past. In a final irony, he is
killed when a part of his decaying ship, the <i>Argos</i>, falls on him. He is
destroyed by the wreck of his past. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">One must wonder what might have
been. How would he have ended had he remained faithful to Medea? If he had been
happy with her epic love even if he had to share glory? Or was he too shallow
for that? The tragedy is in his flawed nature, unwilling to accept love for its
own sake. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There is one more chance to see
this play: on March 1 at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. I highly recommend it.
The best way to get tickets is either through the link in the article above, or
via the facebook page for Stage Hungry. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">***</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In addition to reading the
Euripides original, I recommend Lauren Groff’s book inspired by the Medea myth,
<i><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/12/fates-and-furies-by-lauren-groff.html">Fates
and Furies</a></i>. While not sharing the exact plot, it has a lot of
parallels, and similar emotional landscapes. </p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-4522536389336489702024-02-08T15:12:00.000-08:002024-02-08T15:12:42.724-08:00The Book of Difficult Fruit by Kate Lebo<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
borrowed from a friend.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This
Thanksgiving, as we did the last few years, we decided to take a trip. In this
case, we visited my wife’s family in northern California, and then drove all
the way up to Vancouver Washington, to spend the holiday with some
friends. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since one of
the things we share with these friends, who unfortunately (for us) moved out of
state, is a love of books, we ended up talking about books we had recently
read. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4EqablO0onaqodFWZIJh1gzPVtqf-_nm2hiSL21FutoK_IqI3oEidCflRI5a5ZFmMUFB7mCX85H8ph_G3DL-QpvdKkRvwCZBHrxgvDCynJdU17TEdTtWKwNbAFQIssK7bxbBZ9je7rfmALV7HxW2PuJU4BvLUrZBdsioaO_bH9Kkxb1aqQ6P3Z0Zzao5w/s488/Book%20of%20Difficult%20Fruit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="488" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4EqablO0onaqodFWZIJh1gzPVtqf-_nm2hiSL21FutoK_IqI3oEidCflRI5a5ZFmMUFB7mCX85H8ph_G3DL-QpvdKkRvwCZBHrxgvDCynJdU17TEdTtWKwNbAFQIssK7bxbBZ9je7rfmALV7HxW2PuJU4BvLUrZBdsioaO_bH9Kkxb1aqQ6P3Z0Zzao5w/s320/Book%20of%20Difficult%20Fruit.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Book of
Difficult Fruit</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> came up, because they had read it
recently, and it had a local connection - the author grew up in
Vancouver. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The book is a
bit unusual, not really fitting into a specific genre. The author discusses one
“fruit” for each letter of the alphabet - these are mostly true fruits, but
there are some not-fruits such as rhubarb and sugar cane, as well as some
borderline cases such as wheat. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Each chapter
talks a bit about the fruit, its history, uses, or other facts. But many of the
chapters also have personal stories, with varying degrees of connection to
fruits in question. For example, for huckleberries (an underrated treat that
has defied attempts to grow them commercially), she talks about her experiences
picking them in the wilds of Washington. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">These stories
are fun and interesting. A few other stories talk about her bizarre extended
family situation. Apparently, at some point, her paternal grandparents adopted
two girls, but nobody talked about them, and she never met them. Finally, she
meets one of her aunts, and learns more of the story, but pieces are still
forever missing because her grandparents are dead. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It appears that
the two girls, as teens, snuck out to a Fleetwood Mac concert, and came back to
find their possessions on the lawn - they had to fend for themselves at age 16
and 18, and were essentially kicked out of the family. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Leaving aside
the obvious fact that if you are going to sneak out for a concert, Fleetwood
Mac at their peak is all kinds of awesome, what sort of parent does this? Even
with all of the difficulties I have had with my parents as an adult, and the
unnecessary conflict when I was a teen, I can’t imagine that they would have
forever disowned me for a teenage incident like that. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So that story
was fascinating, even if it was incomplete after the passage of time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The less
interesting personal story was that of the author’s dysfunctional relationship
with her ex-boyfriend. Yawn. Sorry, I’m sure other readers may find it more
interesting than I did, but just nope for me. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">About the only
part of this that resonated was when the ex went gluten and dairy free, she
mentioned that she felt like her world had gone grey. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Even those of
us with a fairly good knowledge of plants will find something interesting and
new in this book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At first (in
the chapter on Aronia), I was worried that the book was going to go too much in
a “woo” direction. Fortunately, the author turns out to be more science-based
than the first part of the chapter indicated. Here is her comment on her rather
difficult mother, who, like my own, believes a lot of snake oil. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sometimes I think she’s trying to cure
herself with diets because diets are impossible to follow perfectly, so when
she slips up she can rest the blame for her illness on herself. Not God. Not
science. <i>Compliance.</i> The regimen that will restore her health. The
argument she makes to a body that won’t listen. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is very
much my mom too. And not just about medical things, but about relational,
psychological, and spiritual things. Pick an impossible formula, then blame
yourself (or your kids) for not following it. That eliminates the messiness of
real life, of real relationships, of real bodies. And never question the
formula, of course. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a
number of fun literary references in the book. On the chapter on medlars - a
really difficult fruit, which has to rot before it becomes edible, and looks a
bit like it has an anus on one end - she notes all of the dirty jokes that
Mercutio makes about the fruit when teasing Romeo. (Who, to be fair, totally
deserves it.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
pomegranate, naturally, gets a mention of Persephone and other Greek myths. And
also this great line about modern woo marketing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Modern marketing bypasses the Doctrine
of Signatures and mines Greek myth instead, selling pomegranate juice as an
elixir of youth, with anti-oxidant promises that fall just shy of raising the
dead. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So yes, a good
bit of snark in this book. Another example is her account of a discussion about
Burning man with her partner, Sam. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Regardless, we do not share the same
feelings about transcendent group experiences or psychedelic drugs. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“It’s stupid,” I say, as he expected me
to say.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“But why?” he says.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I tell him it’s a church with no
judgment and no stakes, like astrology. I can see why such routes to
transcendence would appeal, but, even having left the Catholic Church, I’m
still Catholic. I still raise my eyebrows at religious (or religious-adjacent)
experiences that don’t engage with the possibility of punishment. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As an
ex-evangelical, I know exactly what she is talking about. There is a lot of
religion-adjacent crap with, as she puts it, no stakes. But that isn’t life,
which has real stakes for a lot of vulnerable people. The problem with white
evangelicalism isn’t primarily that it is judgmental, but that it is judgmental
about all the wrong things: policing bodies and sex and genitals, grinding the
faces of the poor, excluding people of color and women from equality, and so
on. But it utterly refuses to judge what the rich do to exploit others, or
expect members to have any responsibility to their fellow humans. Which, well,
as I keep saying, that’s the opposite of Christ, isn’t it? He hung with
prostitutes, but called the rich and powerful “brood of vipers.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One of the
interesting facts in this book can be found in the chapter on vanilla. Which,
despite its reputation, is actually a complex and costly flavor. But, did you
know that its name has its roots in the Latin word that also spawned our word
“vagina”? The little sheath…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Also from the
chapter on vanilla: all commercial vanilla needs to be pollinated by hand. The
technique for this, which is still used today, was invented/discovered by an
enslave child, Edmond Albius. Naturally, a white French dude tried to steal
credit, and Albius died in poverty. This story has been repeated so many times
throughout history, with white dudes stealing credit for discoveries and
inventions made by women and people of color. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I should also
mention that each chapter has recipes at the end. I skimmed these, since most
of them aren’t things I would make, other than the jams, which do sound
good. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I enjoyed this
book in the way it was probably intended. I read a bit at a time, fitting in a
chapter or two after more heavy reading. If this sort of book is your thing, it
is enjoyable. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-2986120538195803852024-02-06T12:38:00.000-08:002024-02-06T12:38:49.438-08:00The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles<p><br />
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
I own this</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent1;">“He
did not look up because he knew how senseless the landscape would appear. It
takes energy to invest life with meaning, and at present this energy was
lacking. He knew how things could stand bare, their essence having retreated on
all sides to beyond the horizon, as if impelled by a sinister centrifugal
force. He did not want to face the intense sky, too blue to be real, above his
head, the ribbed pink canyon walls that lay on all sides in the distance, the
pyramidal town itself on the rocks, or the dark spots of oasis below.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is
definitely the strangest book I have read so far this year. I can’t say I have
read anything quite like it, although I can see some influence from Camus - the
setting in French Algeria, the existentialism, the psychodrama. But it also
goes in a very different direction, with a final third of the book that is so
unexpected that I hesitate to spoil it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpb6Y2XLJouBR93CHuWUY9j7iFanBASnMwKV1QTion5xdKfZQ2nXM_bemzfFi2TQTtZ2gQj7BlVjKXZleYPWxED2AkzVWOMrF0RC4kKCu4VrhrgHxH0D-C8RLrsVdiVSK3nJUG_1EZsSDOHX8XkdputJozbuAysp7auArLRexpXx92Ab9eAEpIB8UIvvFL/s657/Paul%20Bowles.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="657" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpb6Y2XLJouBR93CHuWUY9j7iFanBASnMwKV1QTion5xdKfZQ2nXM_bemzfFi2TQTtZ2gQj7BlVjKXZleYPWxED2AkzVWOMrF0RC4kKCu4VrhrgHxH0D-C8RLrsVdiVSK3nJUG_1EZsSDOHX8XkdputJozbuAysp7auArLRexpXx92Ab9eAEpIB8UIvvFL/w400-h284/Paul%20Bowles.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But first, who
was Paul Bowles? His was not a name I was all that familiar with until
recently. Blame my lack of education and experience in writers of the mid-20th
Century, I suppose. I encountered his name in connection with the circle of
literary friends he ran in: Tennessee Williams, the Beats, Gertrude Stein,
Christopher Isherwood among others. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But Bowles
wasn’t initially known for his writing, but his music. After falling in love
with modern Classical as the result of hearing Stravinsky performed, he left
college to study composition with Aaron Copland and then Virgil Thompson.
During the 1930s and 40s, he composed a number of works, from solo piano works
to movie music. While he never did become a top tier artist, he was well
respected as a composer. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But then, he
took a radical turn in his life. He had never stopped writing, but took a new
interest in it after editing his wife Jane’s novel, <i>Two Serious Ladies</i>.
He gave up his composing, and switched to writing instead.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh, and he also
decided to pack up and move to Tangier, where he would live for the rest of his
life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He didn’t
entirely end his involvement with music, though. He made field recordings of
traditional Moroccan music, about 60 hours of which are in the Library of
Congress. In addition to his writing and recording, he also translated works
from Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and collected folk tales. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is also
worth mentioning his personal life. Bowles was bisexual, and had a number of
affairs with both men and women before his marriage to Jane Auer. She was
probably lesbian, or at least female-oriented, as Paul was the only man she is
known to have slept with, and their sexual relationship lasted all of a
year. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They were fast
friends and soulmates, however, and remained married and close to each other
until her death. For the rest of the marriage, she openly had affairs with
women, and he openly carried on with both men and women, although his longest
relationships were with men. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One might have
called the marriage a marriage of convenience, except that Paul and Jane had a
strong emotional connection to each other that went beyond a desire for
respectability. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Despite the
connection, I would not say that the marriage was exactly happy. Jane struggled
with alcoholism and mental illness, and spent years in an abusive relationship
with a Moroccan woman. Paul, for his part, could be erratic, alternately loving
and verbally cruel. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Both in this
book and in Jane’s novel, the two of them portrayed each other in unflattering
lights, although, to be fair, Paul’s portrayal of himself is pretty harsh in
this book too. Here is how Jane (as Kit) is described:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Small, with blonde hair and an olive
complexion, she was saved from prettiness by the intensity of her gaze. Once
one had seen her eyes, the rest of the face grew vague, and when one tried to
recall her image afterwards, only the piercing, questioning violence of the
wide eyes remained.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When Jane
suffered a series of strokes, Paul remained her primary caretaker until her
death. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So, about the
book itself. Bowles once noted that the book is autobiographical but not in the
factual, but the emotional and poetic sense. Nothing in the book actually
happened, but there are correspondences in the characters between Paul and
Jane. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A married
couple, Port and Kit Moresby, travel to Morocco, intending to explore the
Sahara Desert and, if possible, rekindle the flame in their marriage.
Accompanying them at first is a friend, George Tunner. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Things go very
badly indeed, as the result of their naivete as to the dangers of a foreign
third-world country, and the desert itself. To use Bowles’ metaphor, the sky
that was supposed to shelter them instead became a portal for all that
afflicted them. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In addition to
the sky, Bowles also uses flies throughout the book, both in the literal
annoyance the characters endure, but also as a metaphor for the various persons
trying to sponge off of Kit and Port, from Eric on down</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Things start
off ominously. Port, rebuffed by Kit, wanders out into the city, and ends up
sleeping with a prostitute who tries to rob him. Kit gets drunk on the train,
and ends up sleeping with Tunner. A particularly horrid mother and son pair
from England, Eric and Mrs. Lyle, glom on to them, with Eric trying to borrow
money all the time, and eventually stealing Port’s passport. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that is
just the start. Their existential crisis spirals, and they start making
increasingly irrational decisions. By the end, death and insanity, disease and
sexual slavery, and the desert heat and chill have overtaken the couple. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The story is
crazy, terrifying, and haunting. But the writing is beautiful and evocative. If
you can imagine a nightmare that is stunningly gorgeous, that is about where
this book lands. The lead quote of this post encapsulates so much of the
emotional landscape of the book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The opening
lines of the book set the tone so well. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He awoke, opened his eyes. The room
meant very little to him; he was too deeply immersed in the non-being from
which he had just come. If he had not the energy to ascertain his position in
time and space, he also lacked the desire. He was somewhere, he had come back
through vast regions from nowhere; there was the certitude of an infinite
sadness at the core of his consciousness, but the sadness was reassuring,
because it alone was familiar. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The
descriptions in the book are fascinating and often unexpected. Here is Port’s
impression of Eric:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Port watched, fascinated as always by
the sight of a human being being brought down to the importance of an automaton
or a caricature. By whatever circumstances and in whatever manner reduced,
whether ludicrous or horrible, such persons delighted him. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tunner is the
only actually likeable character in the book, which may be why Port is both
drawn to him (possibly sexually) yet repulsed by him. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tunner was the sort of person to whom
it would occur only with difficulty that he might be being used. Because he was
accustomed to imposing his will without meeting opposition, he had a highly
developed and very male vanity which endeared him, strangely enough, to almost
everyone. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I noted a
particular exchange between Port and Kit that I wondered if it were a
conversation that Paul and Jane had. It occurs after an awkward tea with one of
the locals. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Oh, <i>point!</i> I don’t suppose
there was any particular point. I thought it would be fun. And I still think it
was; I’m glad we went.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“So am I, in a way. It gave me a
first-hand opportunity of seeing what the conversations are going to be like
here - just how unbelievably superficial they can be.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He let go of her waist. “I disagree.
You don’t say a frieze is superficial just because it has only two
dimensions.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“You do if you’re accustomed to having
conversation that’s something more than a decoration. I don’t think of
conversation as a frieze, myself.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Another telling
exchange comes after Port discovers his passport is missing, and accuses the
hotel proprietor of the theft. The local French administrator knows better, and
questions why Port is so sure. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“I accuse him because logic indicates
him as the only possible thief. He’s absolutely the only native who had access
to the passport, the only one for whom it would have been physically possible.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lieutenant d’Amrmagnac raised himself a
little higher in bed. “And why precisely do you demand it be a native?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Port smiled faintly. “Isn’t it
reasonable to suppose it was a native? Apart from the fact that no one else had
the opportunity to take it, isn’t it the sort of thing that would naturally
turn out to have been done by a native - charming as they may be?”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“No, monsieur. To me it seems just the
sort of thing that would <i>not</i> have been done by a native.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The lieutenant
is right, of course. As he points out, a native would steal something he wants
to have, but would be unlikely to have the connections to make use of a foreign
passport. The passport is indeed located later exactly where the lieutenant
predicted, and it eventually becomes clear that Eric was the thief. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I mentioned the
descriptions of the desert. There are so many, but two are particularly worth
quoting. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The new moon had slipped behind the
earth’s sharp edge. Here in the desert, even more than at sea, she had the
impression that she was on the top of a great table, that the horizon was the
brink of space. She imagined a cube-shaped planet somewhere above the earth,
between it and the moon, to which somehow they had been transported. The light
would be hard and unreal as it was here, the air would be of the same taut
dryness, the contours of the landscape would lack the comforting terrestrial
curves, just as they did all through this vast region. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And this one:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The desert landscape is always at its
best in the half-light of dawn or dusk. The sense of distance lacks: a ridge
nearby can be a far-off mountain range, each small detail can take on the
importance of a major variant on the countryside’s repetitious theme. The
coming of day promises a change; it is only when the day has fully arrived that
the watcher suspects it is the same day returned once again - the same day he
has been living for a long time, over and over, still blindingly bright and
untarnished by time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have a
certain love for the desert here in the American west, and these descriptions
hold true for our deserts as well. (Star Wars fans will know that both northern
Africa and Death Valley were used for filming. Very similar terrain.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The desert,
however beautiful, is also cruel and unwelcoming; and ultimately, as pointless
as human existence seems from Bowles’ existentialist viewpoint. Whether you
agree with that idea or not, the story itself is inseparable from the
philosophy. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I did love a
pair of quotes about the ephemeral nature of human life, and the uneasy truth
that all things end. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And it occurred to him that a walk
through the countryside was a sort of epitome of the passage through life
itself. One never took the time to savor the details; one said: another day,
but always with the hidden knowledge that each day was unique and final, that
there never would be a return, another time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later, Kit
recalls something Port had said earlier. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Death is always on the way, but the
fact that you don’t know when it will arrive seems to take away from the
finiteness of life. It’s that terrible precision that we hate so much. But
because we don’t know, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet
everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number,
really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your
childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t
even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps
not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps
twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am feeling
this more and more as my kids grow up. I have already experienced a lot of
“lasts.” Last time I saw a child take their first step, say their first word,
learn to ride a bike, and other things. All too soon, the last one will move
out. It seems limitless, but it is really so finite and small. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I won’t claim
to understand everything that Bowles is trying to do in this book, but it is
truly haunting and weird and surreal. And well written. It won’t be everyone’s
cup of tea (in the desert), but for those who find existentialism or the desert
to be thought provoking, it may resonate. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
*** </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I haven’t seen
it, but there was a movie made of the book which appears to be faithful to the
plot. It was a bit of a commercial flop, and Bowles essentially disowned it.
But I wonder how one even films this book. It might be interesting to seek out.
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">***</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Here is a bit of Bowles' music:<br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p><p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xSz_EFwH9X4?si=yGm2ndXqHgCrGqBJ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe> </p><p> </p><p>And, some King Crimson inspired by the book:</p><p> </p><p> <br /></p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n0XSOKQDHTU?si=p1NsLE70r2e3y6Rm" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-340033926766051502024-02-05T12:51:00.000-08:002024-02-05T12:51:17.162-08:00Memphis (the musical) - Stars 2024<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I will admit I wasn’t particularly
familiar with <i>Memphis</i>, and assumed it was some sort of a rock and roll
jukebox musical. However, Stars was having a BOGO, my wife wanted a companion
to see it, and Perrin Swanson was directing it, so I decided to go, despite a
busy weekend. It was well worth it. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>Memphis</i> is loosely based on
a pair of pioneering disc jockeys from the 1950s, <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dewey_Phillips"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Dewey Phillips</span></a></span> and <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Freed"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Alan Freed</span></a></span>. Elements of each as
well as events in their lives are combined in the character of Huey Calhoun, a
white redneck with a love for black music who becomes a popular DJ playing rock
and roll. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The real-life Phillips and Freed
were both instrumental in bringing “race music” to a broader - meaning white -
audience. Freed may deserve credit for popularizing the term “rock and roll,”
and both were notable for promoting integration and equality. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The musical takes inspiration from
these real life figures, but fleshes out the story, and mostly leaves out the
later tragedies. Phillips died of a heart attack at 42, and Freed was caught up
in the payola scandal and struggled to find work later in life. Neither ever
won the nationwide fame for their work, leaving others like Dick Clark to reap
the rewards of their work. But, it’s a musical, so it can’t be a total downer,
right? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The musical expands the story
beyond just Huey to include a mostly black cast of singers and dancers. Huey
discovers Felicia singing in an underground black nightclub, and promises her
that he will get her singing on the radio. When he does, she gets her big
break, and a music career. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Felicia and Huey start a
relationship, which is disapproved of by her brother Delray, and his mother,
Gladys. Their competing visions for their future also threatens their
relationship. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So, you have Huey’s story as a DJ,
a forbidden love story, a musical career, and a whole lot of song and dance.
Sure, as a musical, the plot is a bit Broadway, but it is both a lot of fun and
a rather raw look at the racial prejudice that still haunts our nation. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I won’t spoil any more of the plot
than that. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Stars is one of two local theaters
that feature live bands, and in this case, the band rocked hard and steady all
night. (And yes, full disclosure, Bakersfield is a small musical community, so
I know and play with members of the band, and am thus a bit prejudiced.)<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The singing and dancing was
excellent, and the sound production was the best I have heard in a while. The
balance of the voices and band was proportional and clear. I also thought the
glam costumes were gorgeous. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are far too many ensemble
members for me to mention everyone, but I’ll give a group endorsement for the
energy they brought to the music and dance and all the little things that are
easy to take for granted in a production. (And also to Nick Ono for the
choreography - Nick is a man of so many talents onstage and backstage.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The lead parts were a mix between
local theater regulars that I have seen for years, and some newer faces that
got a chance to shine. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Jake Wattenbarger as Huey has been
in quite a number of local productions at a variety of venues. He took a hiatus
during the pandemic to get his degree, but is back now. He twanged his way
through the part, capturing a certain combination of inspired and socially
awkward that was believable. A few notes at the top of his range tended a bit
flat, but even that seemed in line with his “white boy trying to fit into black
music” vibe, which was his character. It was easy to root for his success, and
feel for his failures. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I don’t think I had seen Avery
Gibson (Felicia) in a musical before - although she was stunning as <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2019/10/antigone-by-sophokles-anne-carson.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Antigone at CSUB</span></a></span>
five years ago. And damn, can she sing. And dance and act. I really hope to see
more of her on stage. In this role, she switched well between the singing diva
commanding the stage to the vulnerable and tender young woman caught between
love and ambition. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHegezPqI3ktBFDsF_d0yIpREFryGg0tqhln2_hjzjClI_2DuHJ21TSQ6HHcve6on9kWByec-TZdHJODhe_TUFUm0sGD0gC0mSTCBPBYwvNOgVli90746NBHtl8BPummC9KqTXd0pX5dl0fFBp1FsmrGXyJsyGsX8EQninAszUiuxn5DXuame3ICoIVbc/s1440/Memphis%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1440" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHegezPqI3ktBFDsF_d0yIpREFryGg0tqhln2_hjzjClI_2DuHJ21TSQ6HHcve6on9kWByec-TZdHJODhe_TUFUm0sGD0gC0mSTCBPBYwvNOgVli90746NBHtl8BPummC9KqTXd0pX5dl0fFBp1FsmrGXyJsyGsX8EQninAszUiuxn5DXuame3ICoIVbc/w400-h225/Memphis%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Huey (Jake Wattenbarger) and Felicia (Avery Gibson)</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">All photos: StarsBMT publicity photos<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The three best voices, in my
opinion, though, belong to a trio of secondary roles. I mean no shade to the
other singers, but these three are just amazing. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">First is Caley Mayhall, who I
first heard on the Stars stage in <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2017/05/ragtime-musical.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Ragtime</span></i></a></span>,
and she pretty much brought down the house. Since returning to Bakersfield, she
has become one of those singers I will go hear anywhere. Just this last fall,
she was part of the Bakersfield Symphony’s <i>Porgy and Bess</i> concert,
covering the secondary female solos alongside the touring professionals. Oh
yes, she can do opera. In <i>Memphis</i>, she had a few bit parts, but it was
in the ensemble where she brought the power - the vocal thunder and
lightning. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsSBI7Z6k_XfeYB3uyzR8B4Xv9U6q1rVczkZhrSrqJUBjTIbRYQKGcNT7RrhMJLT7EYUZUWnWp5P3dsithv6P5z-KX41rlO9A4XabR5MQwbfwr_CWXV6vAg8twSvWY6oUtnYqT5nIfdNvKv4J1GRFH06OPxz5caW9MZA-Y5sMkf4OTBb60AFXD939xVR7/s2048/Memphis%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1114" data-original-width="2048" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggsSBI7Z6k_XfeYB3uyzR8B4Xv9U6q1rVczkZhrSrqJUBjTIbRYQKGcNT7RrhMJLT7EYUZUWnWp5P3dsithv6P5z-KX41rlO9A4XabR5MQwbfwr_CWXV6vAg8twSvWY6oUtnYqT5nIfdNvKv4J1GRFH06OPxz5caW9MZA-Y5sMkf4OTBb60AFXD939xVR7/w400-h217/Memphis%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="font-size: x-small;">Caley Mayhall as Reverend Hobson<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Second is Jehdiah Woodrow, who I
knew best as the frontman of local band <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NSAMusicLive"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">NSA Music Live</span></a></span> - and let me tell
you, his Michael Jackson and Prince covers are amazing. As club owner and the
brother of Felicia, he didn’t get to show off his four octave range, but he
sounded great and brought the character to life. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Finally, E. Lamar as GATOR, the
(initially) mute bartender who finally speaks - and sings at the end of the
first act. Another great voice. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I also want to call out Ty Halton,
who at this point seems to be in everything from Shakespeare to musicals, and
always makes me smile. As Bobby, the janitor turned star, they got a chance to
really bust some moves, and it was pure energy and joy. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEireaxUf84nEAFWE70Lw0Le7fNxrMB5h-tqt0KPmxSN2WGd9z3PvUAnGTmnzOiqofBEJaBLvUdHhNvQzEf7ZuKz2kxNW6n6UteHcLl8b6Exoy0QZFaKSjdCCX43_olhhcFXoSWUQOfhrayww6SuKkOzcsnKdIfEhgrK4QSjp_ylBIv3yB2ZmsmGv5jygucf/s1440/Memphis%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1440" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEireaxUf84nEAFWE70Lw0Le7fNxrMB5h-tqt0KPmxSN2WGd9z3PvUAnGTmnzOiqofBEJaBLvUdHhNvQzEf7ZuKz2kxNW6n6UteHcLl8b6Exoy0QZFaKSjdCCX43_olhhcFXoSWUQOfhrayww6SuKkOzcsnKdIfEhgrK4QSjp_ylBIv3yB2ZmsmGv5jygucf/w400-h225/Memphis%203.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Bobby (Ty Halton)<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I’ll also give mentions to stage
veterans Julie Gaines (as Gladys), Rob Lang (as the station owner, but also a
real-life DJ for many years), and Randy Jelmini (as a handful of mostly
unpleasant bigots) for solid supporting work. And, as I mentioned before, a
great ensemble.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY8ZHzKMY49vjiHzOAyugOg_Lg86uGQjZdi_EAXO0dS6MKJhp8jlCl9OKNeRSg-RQF9NuYwx4MFQ6Gux1CZCNXGlwpic6-ich8ccmc_7ifIXgZjOvWFRqkLl2k4BFj5a7a4ccHIYXV7LOtm8uf_itVtcPV6NnQFcy7NUdHIwcHm0kovNAepE8SPBguaO9M/s1440/Memphis%205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1440" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY8ZHzKMY49vjiHzOAyugOg_Lg86uGQjZdi_EAXO0dS6MKJhp8jlCl9OKNeRSg-RQF9NuYwx4MFQ6Gux1CZCNXGlwpic6-ich8ccmc_7ifIXgZjOvWFRqkLl2k4BFj5a7a4ccHIYXV7LOtm8uf_itVtcPV6NnQFcy7NUdHIwcHm0kovNAepE8SPBguaO9M/w400-h266/Memphis%205.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Delray (Jehdiah Woodrow) and Felicia (Avery Gibson)<br /></span></span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Perrin Swanson is no relation
(that we know of), but he has been involved with local theater in every
possible capacity for many years. If you peruse the “drama” index of this blog,
you will find him mentioned regularly. Most recently, he has been directing,
and I have to say, I have really loved his vision, both in his choice of plays,
and in his thorough and imaginative bringing to life of the stories. Just last
year, he both directed and acted in <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/08/bernhardthamlet-by-theresa-rebeck-stars.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Bernhart/Hamlet</span></i></a></span>,
where his attention to detail and excellent casting made for a fine small space
and limited budget gem. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>Memphis </i>runs the next two
weekends, and I strongly encourage Bakersfield locals to go see it. A diverse
cast, a bit different from the usual fare, and an excellent production make it
worth seeing. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Also, many of us theater lovers
like to complain about seeing the same old musicals over and over; but new and
more risky productions will only be done if theaters can pay their bills. This
is one of those musicals that lacks the name recognition of the usual
warhorses, so it needs our support. If we are committed to seeing diversity on
stage, behind the stage, and in the selection of plays, we need to get out and
fill those seats! <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://bmtstars.com/"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">You can get tickets here.</span></a></span> <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-88154412843701004932024-02-02T14:16:00.000-08:002024-02-02T14:16:18.046-08:00African American Poetry (Part 2)<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
I own this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s time to
kick Black History Month off this year with another installment from my Library
of America collection of African American Poetry. This section is entitled
“Lift Every Voice (1900-1918).” You can read about part one, <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/03/african-american-poetry-250-years-of.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">“Bury Me in a Free Land” here.</span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-hulhSeF_3783P1ZfQ-hKGBk9Ibqkbemohctc6Jqbp_HUxqNB0Nh3NS9HlmCtjaqas-ouyet-ZfN0TYi9LoqRCaA06kzjwnsXoIk391_NJzz-AnCimQiRVj3yJCiriEMSyD45AcoXIKwYxfFvkRtLawjHYSs41TzRNExcD45uMVrUMppoUEdCAMXoWL9B/s620/AAPoetry-16x9-1-1.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="347" data-original-width="620" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-hulhSeF_3783P1ZfQ-hKGBk9Ibqkbemohctc6Jqbp_HUxqNB0Nh3NS9HlmCtjaqas-ouyet-ZfN0TYi9LoqRCaA06kzjwnsXoIk391_NJzz-AnCimQiRVj3yJCiriEMSyD45AcoXIKwYxfFvkRtLawjHYSs41TzRNExcD45uMVrUMppoUEdCAMXoWL9B/s320/AAPoetry-16x9-1-1.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a
number of familiar names in this section: <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2017/03/i-greet-dawn-poems-by-paul-laurence.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Paul Laurence Dunbar</span></a>, <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-souls-of-black-folk-by-w-e-b-du-bois.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">W.E.B. Du Bois</span></a>, and <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/12/gods-trombones-by-james-weldon-johnson.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">James Weldon Johnson</span></a> should be known to
everyone, and are authors I have blogged about before. While there are good
poems by these authors, I chose to feature the other, less known writers in
this post. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The poets
within each section are in alphabetical order, which makes as much sense as any
other method of anthology organization. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The first poem
I chose to feature is by William Stanley Braithwaite, who not only wrote
everything from poetry to essays to literary criticism, but was instrumental in
getting Harlem Renaissance writers, particularly poets, published and exposed
to a broader audience. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Regular readers
know I love sonnets, so it was natural that I loved this one, from the cycle,
“The House of Falling Leaves.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Off our New England coast the sea
to-night</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is moaning the full sorrow of its
heart:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is no will to comfort it apart</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since moon and stars are hidden from
its sight.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And out beyond the furthest
harbor-light</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There runs a tide that marks not any
chart</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Wherewith man knows the ending and the
start</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of that long voyage in the infinite.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If change and fate and hapless
circumstance</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">May baffle and perplex the moaning sea,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And day and night in alternate advance</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Still hold the primal Reasoning in fee,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Cannot my Grief be strong enough to
chance</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">My voice across the tide I cannot
see? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have re-read
this one a few times, and I swear it gets better every time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">One of the
things I appreciate about this anthology is that editor Kevin Young gives
plenty of space to women. One of those is women’s rights and civil rights
activist Carrie Williams Clifford. I have gone back and forth on which of two
of the poems I should feature. I can’t decide, so here are both.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The first one a
castigation of America for failing - nay, refusing - to fulfill its promises of
equality, freedom, and opportunity to all its citizens. Since Trump’s election,
I decided I was no longer going to soft pedal things, but call racism racism, hate
hate, and evil evil. And furthermore, to all those who so loudly proclaim their
Christianity, to remind them that their actions will - by their own deeply held
beliefs - send them to hell. Clifford very much does so in this poem. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">America</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">America is <i>not </i>another name for
opportunity</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To all her sons! Nay, bid me not be
dumb —</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I will be heard. Christians, I come</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To plead with burning eloquence of
truth</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A brother's cause; ay, to demand,
forsooth,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The manhood rights of which he is
denied;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Too long your pretense have your acts
belied.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What has he done to merit your fierce
hate?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I charge you, speak the truth; for
know, his fate</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Irrevocably is bound up with yours,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For good or ill, as long as time
endures.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Torn from his native home by ruthless
hands,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For centuries he tilled your fruitful
lands,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In shameful, base, degrading slavery;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Your humble, patient, loyal vassal, he
—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Piling your coffers high with magic
gold,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Himself, the while, like cattle bought
and sold.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When devastating war stalked through
the land,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And dangers threatened you on every
hand,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">These sons whose color you cannot
forgive.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Did freely shed their blood that you
might live</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A nation, strong and great. And will
you then</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Continue to debase, degrade, contemn</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Your loyal children, while with smiling
face</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You raise disloyal ones to power and
place?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is race or color crime, that for this
cause</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You draft against the Negro unjust
laws?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Is race or color sin that he should be</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For these things treated so
outrageously?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">O, boastful, white American, beware!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It is the handiwork of God you dare</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thus to despise and He will you repay</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With generous measure overflowing, yea,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For all the good which in his life
you've wrought.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For helpful deed, or kindly, loving
thought —</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For every act of cruelty you've done,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For every groan which you have from him
wrung.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">For every infamy by him endured,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He will you all repay, be thou assured!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not here alone ere time shall cease to
be,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But likewise There, through all
eternity.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I didn’t
feature a Paul Laurence Dunbar poem, but there is a passage in “An Ante-Bellum
Sermon” that links with Clifford’s “America.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Now don't run an' tell yo' mastahs</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dat I's preachin' discontent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">'Cause I isn't; I'se a-judgin'<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bible people by dier ac's;<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'se a-givin' you de Scriptuah,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'se a-handin' you de fac's.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cose ole Pher'or b'lieved in slav'ry,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But de Lawd he let him see,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dat de people he put bref in,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Evah mothah's son was free.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Judging Bible
People by their acts. Hell yes. It’s absolutely damn time. Beyond damn
time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The next one
asks the question about what really matters. Clifford reminds us that for all
our arrogance about what Europe and America have done, we really do not have a
monopoly on culture. What we white people have had is an advantage in resources
combined with a certain ruthlessness toward others.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Character or Color - Which?</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What is blood, or what is birth?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What is black or white?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Or small or great, or rich or poor?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Just so the man's all right?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">O, vain and haughty white man, why</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of ancestry prate so?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Can you in tracing your descent.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Farther than Adam go?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Why boast of culture ? Well you know.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ere to your present state</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of progress and renown you'd come,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">(With statesmen wise and great — )</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The blacks had splendidly achieved</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Long centuries before;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Their monuments, unrivaled still,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Adorn old Afric's shore.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No adventitious circumstance</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Can fix a people's station.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Integrity's the thing that counts</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In any man or nation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Then modestly let's run our course —</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All hist'ry tells the story:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">No race but has its page of shame.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">None lacks its page of glory.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So what is blood or what is birth?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">What is black or white?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Or great or small, or rich or poor.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Just so the man's all right?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“No race but
has its page of shame. / None lacks its page of glory.” That’s a fantastic
line. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The next poem I
wanted to feature is by Alice Dunbar-Nelson. That name sound familiar? She was
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s wife, before they had a bad breakup. Unfortunately,
while Dubar was a great poet, he also had issues with alcohol, and was violent
toward her. While not an excuse for violence and abuse, she had a series of
affairs with women behind his back. Suffice it to say that the marriage was
bad, and unsurprisingly broke up. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of the poems in
this collection, I thought that her sonnet, “Violets” was particularly good.
Whereas William Stanley Braithwaite used the Italian sonnet form, Nelson used
the English (Shakespearean) form. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Violets</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I had not thought of violets late,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The wild, shy kind that spring beneath
your feet</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In wistful April days, when lovers mate</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And wander through the fields in
raptures sweet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The thought of violets meant florists'
shops,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And bows and pins, and perfumed papers
fine;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And garish lights, and mincing little
fops</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And cabarets and soaps, and deadening
wines.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So far from sweet real things my
thoughts had strayed,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I had forgot wide fields; and clear
brown streams;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The perfect loveliness that God has
made,—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Wild violets shy and Heaven-mounting
dreams.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And now—unwittingly, you've made me
dream</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Of violets, and my soul's forgotten
gleam.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a
number of poems in this collection by Angelina Weld Grimke, who has a
fascinating backstory. Grimke was born to a mixed-race father and a white
mother. That marriage didn’t last long, in part because her family freaked out
about her marrying a black man. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But before
that, well, there is even more story. Her father Archibald was born into
slavery, one of the openly known sons of his enslaver. During the Civil war, he
and his brothers hid out, until the end of the war and freedom. They were
recognized as highly intelligent be the abolitionist Pillsbury brothers, who
raised money so they could attend college. He eventually became a successful
lawyer. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Archibald’s
white uncle was also an enslaver and notorious white supremacist. However, his
two daughters, Angelina and Sarah, became anti-slavery as children, rebelling
against their father and eventually becoming the only significant Southern
women to become feminist activists. They openly accepted and acknowledged
Archibald as part of their family, a truly scandalous act at the time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Archibald never
forgot that kindness, and named his daughter Angelina Weld Grimke after her
great-aunt, Angelina Grimke Weld. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like her
great-aunts, Grimke would become a feminist activist herself, as well as a poet
and writer. Here is my favorite of her poems. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tenebris</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is a tree, by day,<br />
That, at night,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Has a shadow,<br />
A hand huge and black,<br />
With fingers long and black.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> All through the dark,<br />
Against the white man’s house,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> In the little wind,<br />
The black hand plucks and plucks<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> At the bricks.<br />
The bricks are the color of blood and very small.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Is it a black hand,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Or is it a shadow?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The title is
Latin for “darkness” or “shadow.” I love the way the poem invokes the idea that
since the plantation house was built on the backs of black humans, its very
bricks will be picked apart by the ghost hand of those who built it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Fenton Johnson
was not related to James Weldon Johnson, but was considered by the latter to be
a forerunner of the Harlem Renaissance, and the finest poet of that pre-era.
Many of his poems are dark, including this one. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tired</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am tired of work; I am tired of
building up somebody else’s civilization.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Let us take a rest, M’Lissy Jane.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I will go down to the Last Chance
Saloon, drink a gallon or two of gin, shoot a game or two of dice and sleep the
rest of the night on one of Mike’s barrels.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You will let the old shanty go to rot,
the white people’s clothes turn to dust, and the Calvary Baptist Church sink to
the bottomless pit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You will spend your days forgetting you
married me and your nights hunting the warm gin Mike serves the ladies in the
rear of the Last Chance Saloon.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Throw the children into the river;
civilization has given us too many. It is better to die than it is to grow up
and find out that you are colored.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Pluck the stars out of the heavens. The
stars mark our destiny. The stars marked my destiny.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am tired of civilization.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll finish up
with a third sonnet, another in the Italian form. Lucian B. Watkins was another
luminary in the early Harlem Renaissance, and his idea of the “New Negro”
became central to the intellectual and artistic movement. His poem of the same
name captures the essence of the idea. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The New Negro</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He thinks in black. His God is but the
same</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">John saw - with hair “like wool” and
eyes “as fire” -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Who makes the visions for which men
aspire.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">His kin is Jesus and the Christ who
came</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Humbly to earth and wrought his
hallowed aim</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">‘Midst human scorn. Pure is his heart’s
desire;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">His life’s religion lifts; his faith
leads higher.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Love is his Church, and Union is its
name.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lo, he has learned his own immortal
role</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In this momentous drama of the hour;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Has read aright the heavens’ Scriptural
scroll</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">‘Bove ancient wrong - long boasting in
its tower.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ah, he has sensed the truth. Deep in
his soul</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He feels the manly majesty of
power. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I still have
six more sections in this book to read, and am looking forward to doing so.
There are many less-known poets that are worth discovering and reading, and the
voice of America would be incomplete without its black voices. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Related: Kevin
Young also edited the small volume anthology, <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/12/jazz-poems-various-authors.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">Jazz Poems</span></i></a>, which I read recently. It is
also very good - Young has a great ear for the best poems. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-87078714450610742282024-01-30T15:06:00.000-08:002024-01-30T15:06:36.929-08:00The World That Was Ours by Hilda Bernstein<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Source of book: Borrowed from my
wife. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is one of a number of
fascinating books re-released by Persephone Books, a UK publishing house that
has been working to re-publish books written (mostly) by women in the 20th
Century that had unfortunately gone out of print. The list of Persephone books
I have read and blogged about can be found at the bottom of this post. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">While most of Persephone’s catalog
is fiction, there are also non-fiction books. This is one of them. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEP-cf97Bjck_TlgCJ8c2U9KQEQSErLLY03EuBVNh3AyKY4eD7vmfVWFeR8zY5094O3K-8xIIKOuUX4XcFg_ROVlv1nD8ESztMdCCH10BnVf6li0qTBSJit5f_lHtapzu8nP1fJyHuzP1dhz0thcdRdN29O2jjJyqodEBjQk5FId-H-RFRmY6Oee9op8Xa/s1112/Hilda%20Bernstein.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1112" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEP-cf97Bjck_TlgCJ8c2U9KQEQSErLLY03EuBVNh3AyKY4eD7vmfVWFeR8zY5094O3K-8xIIKOuUX4XcFg_ROVlv1nD8ESztMdCCH10BnVf6li0qTBSJit5f_lHtapzu8nP1fJyHuzP1dhz0thcdRdN29O2jjJyqodEBjQk5FId-H-RFRmY6Oee9op8Xa/w288-h400/Hilda%20Bernstein.webp" width="288" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">First, a bit of background on
Hilda Bernstein. Here in the United States, we have remained kind of ignorant
and unaware of certain parts of world history. Namely, the parts that we were
not major players in. This is a general failing, a national chauvinism that
centers ourselves in the world, as somehow the pinnacle of human
development. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">While there has been an attempt
during my lifetime to expand “World History” to include more - my 7th grader is
learning more than I ever did about other cultures and religions, and not just
with a “see, Protestant Christians are better than everyone else, particularly
those pagans” spin. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">One of the big gaps is the history
of pretty much anywhere in Africa. I wonder how many Americans have any idea
who Cecil Rhodes was, or why he is seen by Africans as a Hitler-like figure?
Although I consider myself better educated than most, I confess that Africa is
one place I cannot label the countries correctly, let alone recall the
pre-colonial history or even the colonial history. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are only a few countries
that really have been part of the new stories that most Americans noticed.
Egypt, because of the Bible. Libya because of Kadaffi. Maybe Sudan’s civil war.
The famine in Ethiopia when I was a kid. Then, blah, blah, blah corruption,
blah diamonds, blah, civil war, blah, blah, black people whatever. All those
central and southern African places were all alike, right? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Except for South Africa, which
entered my consciousness when Apartheid ended and Nelson Mandela was finally
released from prison. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But that was temporary, and these
days, if it weren’t for Trevor Noah and Elon Musk, few Americans would even
think about South Africa. And, come to think about it, many probably think Noah
is British, and think Musk is just some rich dude with a funky name. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I haven’t done that much reading
about South Africa or Apartheid, so this book filled in some of the gaps. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I will mention that I read <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2016/10/julys-people-by-nadine-gordimer.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">July’s People</span></i></a></span>
by Nadine Gordimer for Banned Books Week a few years ago, and also Trevor
Noah’s wonderful memoir, <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2021/09/born-crime-by-trevor-noah.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Born A Crime</span></i></a></span>,
both of which are worthwhile reads. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So, who was Hilda Bernstein?<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Born in England, her parents were
from Russia, and ended up having to return when she was age 10. She ended up
dropping out of school to work, but eventually ended up in South Africa working
as a journalist. She met her husband, Lionel (“Rusty”) through her political
activism, during World War Two. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Rusty was also Jewish, but born in
South Africa. Both of them became committed anti-Fascists. For a while, they
were part of the Labour party, but eventually joined the Communist party, as it
was the only South African political party that was not segregated. At one
point, she was elected to the city council of Johannesburg.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">She wrote, organized, and marched,
one of the key figures in the opposition to Apartheid. Rusty too was a
significant figure, and would play a significant part in the events described
in this book. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As Mandela and other anti-racist
activists gained support, the reactionary elements in South Africa started
freaking out, and, after gaining power, began a fascist crackdown on dissent,
outlawing organizations, imprisoning or placing under house arrest anyone who
had been a part of protests, strikes, or other anti-racist activities. Media
was shut down, people were forbidden to see or talk to their friends and
family, and other totalitarian measures were taken in an attempt to suppress
the fight for justice. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Hilda and Rusty were convicted of
illegal political activity and spent a few months in jail, followed by years of
house arrest. Finally, Rusty was arrested and charged with treason, along with
Mandela and a host of others, black and white. Rusty was acquitted (due to an
utter lack of evidence or even coherent charges) but others were not as lucky.
After the trial, he was immediately re-arrested. Out on bail, he and Hilda
decided to flee before they were both incarcerated indefinitely. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The book tells her side of the
story of the rise of fascism, their arrests and imprisonments, their experience
of house arrest and the deliberate isolation from basic human contact they
endured, the arrest and trial of Rusty and others, and their flight on foot
over the border to what is now Botswana, then to England. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The power of the book is in the
fact that Hilda writes, not an objective story of events on the world stage,
but a very personal and emotional account of the inhumane treatment that they
endured at the hands of an evil regime. Both were strongly moral and decent
people, which meant they were seen as the enemy by those whose power depended
on the oppression of others. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is not an easy book to read.
Bernstein is a good storyteller, not melodramatic, but devastating in the
simplicity and calm recounting of her feelings, the trauma to their small
children, and the basic inhumanity that was inflicted on them. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Her account of the horrible
choices they faced is also horrifying. How do you balance all of it? Your duty
to your children, your desire to not abandon those who are left behind in the
hell of fascism, your moral values, your desire to do something positive but
without a way of knowing what choice would be best. It was a decision that
tortured her, and one she still felt some guilt over later, even though it was
very likely the best option. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I also found the book difficult
because there are so many parallels with our own political moment. There is a
strong fascist movement here in the United States, and most of the people from
my former religious tradition and my extended family are enthusiastically a
part of it. And many more are like many of the white people in this book - not
hateful themselves, but willing to turn a blind eye to the oppression of
others. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">On the positive side, though,
there is a lot that is inspiring about the South African struggle for equality
for all. As a white man, I feel a kinship with those in this book like the
Bernsteins, who were unwilling to be silent, to just go with the flow, take the
easy road. As Octavia Butler pointed out, one way you can tell who the groups
of good people are is that they tend to be diverse, with power shared with
minorities and women. That was very much the case in South Africa. Groups that
excluded the voices of Africans (in this context, meaning “black,” as
contrasted with “colored” which included the significant Indian population as
well as mixed-race persons) were bound to be either oppressors or collaborators
with the fascist regime. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">By the way, I use fascism
intentionally here, for two reasons. First, by any reasonable definition, South
Africa’s apartheid regime was fascist. (And they didn’t hide it either.)
Likewise, MAGA is a fascist movement by any reasonable definition. It’s textbook
fascism. Second, Hilda Bernstein herself uses the term - accurately - to
describe the fascist government and its fascist actions. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Bernstein’s writing is also
perceptive about politics - she was no dilettante, but an experienced
politician and journalist. Her (illegally taken) notes about the trials
included some surprisingly accurate transcripts of the words of Mandela and
other African National Congress figures. (The book updates them with the video
that was taken of Mandela and eventually released to the public, but
Bernstein’s informal transcript was pretty darn good.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It is also notable for her
consistent and clear belief <i>- and practice</i> - of treating black and white
as full equals. Considering she was born in 1915, it becomes even more clear
that my parents’ and grandparents’ generations have ZERO excuse for their
ongoing racism. They are not “of their time” - they are just bigots. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">After the events of the book,
Hilda Bernstein continued to work against Apartheid, both with writing and
speaking against it, and in organizing the global opposition to Apartheid that
eventually placed the international financial boycott that led to its end. It
is no exaggeration to say that Hilda and Rusty Bernstein were instrumental in
ending that evil, and should rightly be considered heroes of the 20th
Century. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I wanted to feature a lot of
quotes from the book, because her words are so powerful, and because they have
not been heard nearly enough. I am glad the book has been re-issued, and I hope
it is read by more than a few people. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are a number of passages
that explain how Hilda ended up in the Communist party. This is not to say she
was a Stalinist, by the way. She was horrified at the invasion of
Czechoslovakia, to the point where she quit the party and considered divorcing
Rusty over their disagreement. But in the context of the times, and the
political reality in South Africa - where the Communists were literally the
only anti-Apartheid party - it is easy to understand her decisions. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">I began to see the future as basically between two
alternatives - the threat of fascism or the possibility of communism. So I
joined the Communist party. I had all the deep-rooted idealism of the young. To
me, communism represented not just a bulwark against fascism, but something
bigger. I thought of it as opening up the possibility of a world without
poverty, without exploitation, without racialism, as a shining and ideal form
of society.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If there are only two options, I
myself (no fan of communism) would pick it over fascism. In our present time
and place, there are other options - most notably social democracy. And the
democracy part is important, in all of its manifestations: a free and active
press, freedom of speech and assembly, collective action through unions and
strikes, equal votes for all, economic justice. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Bernstein discusses the history of
segregation, particularly the economic exploitation of blacks which led to the
need to justify it. Segregation, at its core, is intended to prevent white
people from experiencing black people on an equal basis. That is, naturally,
dangerous, because it can lead to seeing humans as equal regardless of color.
She also notes that the Communist party, because it was unsegregated, became
just that. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">As communists our political understanding allowed us to see
each other as people, people to whom you could warm personally, thus opening up
for us social friendships. We called each other ‘comrade’ and we were comrades
for we formed social friendships that took us to the homes of our African
comrades and brought them into ours. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The loss of those social bonds
because they were outlawed was one of the losses that she mourned the most.
Particularly since being a communist (and thus an anti-racist) alienated her
from the pro-segregation white society. She describes an experience that really
feels familiar to me in our own fascist era. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">We became even more separated from white Johannesburg, except
for personal friends, the majority of whom shared our attitudes and in many
cases our politics. The years made me increasingly intolerant of those
well-meaning whites who believed in gradualism and wanted to improve conditions
among what they termed ‘the less-privileged section.’ I came to believe more
and more in the essential oneness of humanity, in the need to express this
through one’s life. All our activities, what creative powers and abilities we
possessed were directed towards this involvement with human beings as humans,
not because they were black and oppressed, but because they were human. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It wasn’t that she wasn’t willing
to be around people with different political views, but profound moral
differences separated her from others.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Whenever I tried, something would happen to strip the screen
of normality and reveal our difference. Holiday friends at the camping site
would say something intolerably insulting about non-whites; to remain silent
was to be a party to their attitudes. We spoke, and were immediately set apart
from all others.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This literally happened with my
father. Eventually, I stopped being willing to listen to the bigotry, and spoke
out, first privately, then publicly. To remain silent would have been to be a
party to that bigotry. The predictable result is estrangement from my
parents. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It is fascinating the way that
Bernstein connects the dots on the progression. As the Nationalists (fascists)
gained power, and increasingly cracked down on dissent, the response by those
victimized by this brutality changed as well. When <i>legal</i> forms of
protest become outlawed, then increasingly <i>illegal</i> responses - including
violence - become inevitable. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There is a reason that the United
States has recurring bouts of racial unrest and violence. And it isn’t that
black people are somehow inferior, yet refuse to “accept their place.” This is
also a lesson that Israel is refusing to learn. You cannot simply ratchet up
the brutality until some magical point where the oppressed give up and agree to
be oppressed forever. After one of the early crackdowns, Mandela began to
broadcast on Freedom Radio - an outlawed underground transmitter. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">It was a small beginning of the new policy of struggle that
no longer sought to work within the framework of what the Government declared
legal. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Oh, and there are some badass
Mandela quotes in the book. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">“What sort of justice is this, that enables the aggrieved to
sit in judgement over those against whom they have laid a charge? What is this
rigid color-bar in the administration of justice? Why is it that in this
courtroom I am facing a white magistrate, confronted by a white prosecutor, and
escorted into the dock by a white orderly? Why is it that no African in the
history of this country has ever had the honour of being tried by his own kith
and kin? I had discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I
have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end
of my days. I detest most violently the set-up that surrounds me here. It makes
me feel I am a black man in a white man’s court.”<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">“No man in his right senses would voluntarily choose such a
life in preference to the one of normal family, social life which exists in
every civilised community…Rest assured that when my sentence has been
completed, I will still be moved, as men are always moved, by their
consciences; I will still be moved by my dislike of the race discrimination
against my people when I come out from serving my sentence, to take up again,
as best I can, the struggle for the removal of those injustices until they are
finally abolished once and for all..I have done my duty to my people and to
South Africa. I have no doubt that posterity will pronounced that I was
innocent and that the criminals that should have been brought before this court
are the members of the Verwoerd Government.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Oh yes, posterity has made that
pronouncement. Just like it will about the evil of Trump and MAGA and the evil
people who worship him. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Bernstein herself muses on the
reality. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Violence is an integral part of the South African scene.
Minor violence is perpetrated every day against Africans; in the police raids
for passes, in making arrests and in the prisons. From time to time there is
major violence, of which the shootings at Sharpeville in 1960 were the peak.
Almost invariably the violence comes from one side - from the State through the
police and its army. Violence as an instrument of government has been openly
displayed; armoured cars and tanks in the townships, service revolvers carried
at all times by every policeman, instructions given to the police by a Minister
of Justice to shoot without hesitation whenever they think it necessary. ‘I
abhor violence,’ the liberals say. Who does not? But what is <i>their</i>
answer?<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Another interesting parallel in
this book is another example of how fascism is the same at all times and
places. The “Censorship Bill” shut down independent newspapers and magazines -
only those supporting the government were allowed. (Trump has literally said he
will do this, by the way.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The Bill was not simply a measure for political censorship.
Culture had become an enemy, as it was once for Germany, and the enemy had to
be suppressed and destroyed. The poet is dangerous - his words break through
barriers of race and language; the artist is dangerous - his brush and pencil
reflect what exists around him and create commentaries on his life and times.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Later, Bernstein notices the
hostility of the Government to books in general. As she puts it, “Prison
officials are united in their deep mistrust and dislike of all books.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The Nazis were on everyone’s minds
in the decades after the war, and, as above, Bernstein references them often.
Here is another interesting passage:<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">In my heart I think the Nationalists do not have the
terrifying conviction of their own rightness or the grim thoroughness of the
Germans, they do not really believe in themselves and their cause, and this
means hesitations and weaknesses even at the same time as it drives them to
greater extremes. To uphold a lost cause, lost in the eyes of the whole world,
must inevitably lead to doubts and conflicts. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Before the trial, Rusty is
arrested under a new “90 day” law - anyone can be incarcerated for 90 days
without charges. In reality, they were also isolated and subjected to varying
degrees of torture. And they could be immediately re-arrested for another 90
days. Hilda describes the mundane yet grindingly awful reality of this for
their family. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">I can mend fuses and do other odd necessary jobs around the
house, but I don’t like having to take decisions without ever discussing them
first, disciplining the children, deciding on questions concerning schooling,
pocket money, how late they can stay out at night. I don’t like having to take
the car to be repaired. Something goes wrong with the record-player and I don’t
know where to take it to be fixed; Rusty used to fix it himself. Everything
that was shared is now mine, and most of it seems to be responsibility and
decisions. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Being deprived of a marriage like she
was sounds horrible; I can feel the pain through the page. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Occasionally, Bernstein feels the
need to vent in a snarky manner, and I cannot blame her. This one is spot
on. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">[O]n the other side of the road is the heavy stone lump which
is the shrine of Afrikanerdom, said to be a replica of a Chicago synagogue,
where the master race gather each year to give praise to God for their bloody
triumph at arms over the black savages - the Voortrekker Memorial.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are a number of names I was
not familiar with before reading this book. In general, there are some heroic
lawyers (that’s always nice to see), particularly Joel Joffe, who ended up
staying behind (when he probably should have fled) in order to defend those
charged. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Jimmy Kantor faced charges, not
because of anything he did, but because he employed his brother-in-law
(connected to the ANC) in his law practice. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Abram Fischer, who broke with his
Afrikaner nationalist family to become a foe of Apartheid, and was renowned for
refusing to claim special privilege based on his social status. Bernstein says
of him and his wife Molly that they had the widest circle of friends of anyone
she knew, including people of every race and economic status. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Harold Hanson, who in his final
argument reminded the judge that his own Afrikaner people, in rebelling against
the British, did all the things the defendants were accused of - indeed, the
very government owed its existence to these “illegal” acts. I love his argument
that history will not only judge the acts of rebellion, but the response will
echo for generations as well - so those imposing judgment are in the dock in
the long run. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I also learned a bit more about
the specific cultural factors which contributed significantly to Apartheid. My
knowledge of the Boer War is a bit limited, but I was well aware that the
British were brutal in their treatment of the Boers - Dutch settlors. One could
argue that the first concentration camps were set up by the British in this
war, and tens of thousands of Boer civilians died in them of disease and
malnutrition. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In the end, Britain “won” the war,
but <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2024/01/george-nicholas-and-wilhelm-by-miranda.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">at a cost that made it hardly
worth it</span></a></span>. It was the beginning of the end for the British
Empire, even if that wouldn’t become apparent for a few more decades. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The war left a bitter taste in the
mouths of the Boers, who eventually came to dominate South African politics
after the country was granted a degree of independence. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Much like the American South won
most of the cultural battle after the Civil War, the Boers won the cultural
battle in South Africa, with Afrikaans becoming the most common first language
for whites (Zulu and Xhosa are the most common, as 80% of South Africans are
black.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Along with the cultural dominance
came the religious dominance of Dutch Calvinism. And man, the more I see of
Calvinism, the more I have come to believe that it is the single most evil
manifestation of “Christianity” the world has ever known. And it has plenty of
competition. Bernstein mentions it often in the book. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The civil service is a preserve of Afrikaans-speaking whites.
It is one of the strongholds captured from the English by Afrikaner
nationalists and recognized now as theirs. They are Calvinist in religion,
deeply reactionary in all their attitudes. Diversity is heresy. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Here in the United States,
Calvinism drove the enslavement society of the South - predominantly Scottish
Presbyterians settled there, and Calvinism remains a core belief of the
Southern Baptist Convention. To this day, the deep connection between Calvinist
beliefs and reactionary attitudes is clear, as is the Calvinist aversion to
diversity in any form. Bernstein mentions this again in her description of the
trial as the confrontation of greater social forces. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The Rivona Trial was a confrontation in which the opposing
forces in South Africa appeared face to face; those who stood for apartheid,
who defended and protected the apartheid State; and those who opposed it. The
court was an ultimate court of morality; the issues were not the guilt or
innocence of the accused, but the guilt or innocence of those who opposed
apartheid. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As then, so now, with Trump and
MAGA attacking the guilt or innocence of all of us who oppose racial injustice.
Bernstein goes on:<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">On one side was the State with its deep Calvinist roots
asserting the unchanging nature of man and race, of man created immediately and
in his present form, rejecting evolution, adhering to belief in the rigid and
unalterable patterns of human behavior; fixed laws, the virtues of obedience,
attainment as related to heredity not environment. On the other side: the
vision of man as endowed with creative and developing gifts, the ability to
learn and change; free-developing, self-fulfilling man, black and non-black.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Wow, that really is the crux,
isn’t it? What Calvinism teaches is that injustices exist because people are
created unequal. This is why Calvinism is mostly popular among privileged
people. It is convenient to be able to say to those you oppress that their
oppression is God’s will, and is because God created them inferior to
you. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is, of course, nothing
whatsoever like anything Jesus Christ taught, but Calvinism is a form of
anti-Christianity, as its fruit amply demonstrates. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Ironically, the belief that some
people are better than others due to heredity needs to be protected by
violence. Otherwise, those “inferior” people - women, people of color,
immigrants - have this disturbing tendency to rise. It is the cognitive dissonance
of all oppression: “some people are naturally inferior, and we have to
constantly make sure they stay that way, using violence if necessary.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Another thing I did not know was
that the United Nations voted (106-1….no points for guessing who dissented…) to
condemn the Rivonia trial and call for the immediate release of the prisoners.
While it did not have an immediate effect, it did set the stage for the
eventual boycott, divestment, and sanctions leveled at South Africa. Again,
Israel needs to start paying attention. It is losing international goodwill
with its horrifying targeting of civilians in Palestine. (That includes here in
the US, particularly among younger people. My eldest has participated in
protests on this issue, and many of his friends did likewise. Goodwill doesn’t
come back easily once lost…) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I also have to mention something
that warmed my lawyer heart. The initial indictment was so obviously defective
that it was quashed. (The second should have been also, as Bernstein points
out.) In any event, the prosecutor kept saying “squash” rather than “quash.”
That’s rookie-level bad lawyering. Even Bernstein, a non-lawyer, notices. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Later, after Rusty’s bail is
denied, Hilda tells the prosecutor that she hopes his conscience will not
trouble you too much in the future. He kind of freaks out, and insists his
conscience is clear, and that he is a “deeply religious man.”<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Yeah, what I said about Calvinism
being an evil religion. I have no use for that kind of religion and never will.
I don’t believe in hell, but I sure hope he had to answer to God for his
disgusting evil behavior. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Bernstein also has a scathing
indictment of the prosecution for their treatment of Jimmy Kantor. Eventually,
the judge dismissed all charges - there was <i>literally zero evidence!</i> <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">It was March, seven months after Kantor’s arrest. The other
accused were delighted at his release. The Security Police came forward to
congratulate him, and called, “Goodbye, Jimmy.”<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Goodbye, Jimmy - no hard feelings. We stuck you in solitary
and gave you a nervous breakdown, we put you up on a capital charge, we ruined
your business, lost your home for you; we played cat-and-mouse games over your
bail; we didn’t have any evidence against you, but no hard feelings, goodbye,
Jimmy.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Bernstein also recounts a
conversation she had while on vacation during the several week trial recess. A
man she is talking to mentions a British businessman’s impression of the
country, and their conversation is fascinating. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">‘He’s amazed at what’s happening here - the great
achievements in industry and commerce. He says it’s fantastic what the white
man has done in South Africa and he’s going to tell everyone about it when he
gets back.’ He looks at me and adds: ‘But I suppose you wouldn’t agree with
that?’<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Her response is so good, I intend
to steal it (in modified form) in future conversations. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">‘On the contrary,’ I reply, ‘I do agree, the whites have made
a tremendous contribution to the development of the country. But there are two
things you cannot ignore: first, for all their technical know-how, the money
and the skills they brought, they could not have achieved anything without
African labour; all the wealth of the gold minds, the Cape fruit farms, the
growth of industry on the Rand - it’s all been done with African labour, and it
has produced so much wealth precisely because the labour is so cheap.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">‘The second thing is the belief that everything can stand
still - wouldn’t it be nice if things could always be this way - tribal
natives, migrant workers, nice backward Africans, and on the other hand,
wealthy and educated whites. But it can’t stand still. The very things the
whites brought here - capital and know-how - accelerated the process of change.
The world is moving all the time. It is the reluctance to accept the necessity
of change that will be the downfall of the whites in this country.’<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And a little later:<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">They refuse to recognize that these very things by which they
value their standard of civilization - education, money, technology - have in
turn acted upon the lives of those around them, a chain reaction of unceasing
change that cannot be halted, only delayed. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is the lie that Trump and
MAGA are selling: that change can be stopped, that white supremacy can be
maintained forever, with, as Bernstein puts it, “the lingering evergreen
existence of master over the anonymous ‘native.’” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But change cannot be stopped, and
those advantages: education, money, technology - will never remain the
exclusive property of white males. Countries like China have technology now,
many countries are educating their people better, and all that is lacking is
money for many more. Here in the US, women are now the majority of college
graduates, and minority graduation rates have been rising for decades. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But a lot of white people are
freaking the hell out about it. From an elderly former neighbor who complained
that “mexicans” were now everywhere he only used to see “americans” to people
like my parents bemoaning that there isn’t really “america” anywhere these days
- you can’t get away from “those people” and their culture. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">You can’t stop change, and no
supremacy can be maintained forever. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For South Africa, trying to
maintain that supremacy cost them decades of advancement - and also many of
their best minds, who fled the political persecution. Ditto for the Jim Crow
South, and <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/176854/republican-red-states-brain-drain"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">it is happening again for red
states</span></a></span>. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The choice to leave was not easy
for the Bernsteins, and Hilda mentions how torn she was throughout the
book. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">I had made a discovery so simple that I could only think most
people knew it so well they never thought it worth mentioning. For me it was
something new, something I had to arrive at in my own way. It was simply this:
that no single course of conduct is necessarily absolutely correct. It was the
unresolved problem that had torn me in two - for the children’s sake, must I
not leave? For the sake of all else, must I not stay? When I faced the fact
that there was no clear solution, and never could be, the agony of trying to
make a choice subsided.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There is no correct choice. There
is no good choice, even. I felt this so much over the last decade and a half,
torn between my wish for my children to have grandparents in their lives and
the reality that my mom and sister were abusive to my wife. There were a series
of imperfect compromises, until circumstances made the decision for me. I wish
I had done things differently, but I honestly cannot think of a choice that
would have been better either. There was no correct choice, because there was
no reality in which my mom accepted and embraced my wife or agreed to let us
live our lives our own way. When it comes to the decision to cut bait on a
relationship, whether with a person or with one’s country, there is never
anything easy about the decision. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The excerpts of Nelson Mandela’s
statement from the stand are amazing. (South African criminal procedure permits
a defendant to give a statement, without cross examination, but limits its
evidentiary value - a bit different from our own.) He talks about how “All
lawful methods of expressing opposition to the policy of white supremacy had
been closed,” and how gradually everything except silent submission was made
illegal. Even striking for better wages was illegal, and Mandela had to go into
hiding because of his role in organizing a strike. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Also truly badass was Walter
Sisulu, whose name I had heard previously, but didn’t really know that much
about. Like Mandela, he became a respected lawyer. I have to quote part of the
cross-examination. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">‘Why should people fear ninety days? The police don’t arrest
people indiscriminately,’ Yutar remarks at one stage. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Here Walter leans forward and raises his voice. ‘They arrest
many people indiscriminately. For no offense people have been arrested.’<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">‘Would you like to make a political speech?’<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">‘I am not making a political speech. I am answering your
question.’ As Yutar continues to question him on this point, he recounts how
his wife and son have been arrested indiscriminately, how the police arrest
without evidence; that he himself was arrested by Warrant Officer Dirker six
times in 1962; and for once allows a bitter note in his voice as he says: ‘I
wish you were an African and could find out what persecution really means. Then
you would realise the situation in this country.’ <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2015/07/hostile-culture-white-evangelicalism.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">As I have written before</span></a></span>,
white evangelicals in this country would lose their shit if they had to
experience ONE SINGLE FUCKING DAY of being a black man in the United States.
Sisulu was merely pointing out the blindingly obvious to a man blinded by power
and privilege. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Rusty as well got an excellent
zinger in on Yutar. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">‘Is it not a communist tactic to attempt to discredit the
police, and has not this tactic been used in this very case?” Yutar asks.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">‘I think the police succeed in discrediting themselves very
effectively without any assistance,’ Rusty replies. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Govan Mbeki’s testimony is also
excellent. He freely admits to being part of banned organizations, but has
pleaded not guilty. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">‘[F]or the simple reason that to plead guilty would to my
mind indicate a sense of moral guilt. I do not accept there is moral guilt
attached to my actions.’<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">He lays out at one point the
history of racism and white supremacy in policies stretching back decades. As
he says, the name changed, but not the policy, and it can be summed up in the
words of a former prime minister, translated as “The white man must always
remain boss.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">While the immediate results of the
Rivonia Trial were not good (and were not expected to be), in the long game, it
was the beginning of the end for Apartheid. Bernstein could see why.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The trial has stirred interest all over the world. The
statements and behavior of the Rivonia men have earned them great respect, and
brought tributes from individuals and organizations everywhere, from the World
Peace Council that has awarded the Rivonia men a Gold Medal for peace, to
students of London University who have elected Mandela as President of their
Students’ Union. Such indications of understanding and support not only bring
pleasure to the Rivonia accused; they also bring doubt and unease to the State
and those who support the State. No word or deed from people of other countries
has been lost or in vain. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">People sometimes wonder why I
blog, why I determined in the wake of Trump’s election that I would no longer
be silent, but would confront racism and hate, even when it came from my own
family. This is why. Whether my parents ever change their minds, whether there
is ever an admission by MAGA partisans that they were on the wrong side of
right and wrong, I can help create that doubt and unease. I can remind people
that they cannot count on vindication from history. And I can continue to
proclaim that what they are doing is not in any way of God, and is not in any
possible way Christ following. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Bernstein also quotes the British
press in the wake of the verdicts. <i>The Telegraph</i> - hardly a bastion of
liberalism - had one of the best statements about what the trial was really
about. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">[B]ut that is not the end, but rather the beginning of debate
on the larger moral issue. It is the law itself that the South African
Government has to justify at the Bar of the civilized world.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Whenever and wherever government rests on any other
foundation than the general consent of the whole people, the patriotism of
those repressed tends to appear in the eyes of the rulers as treason. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The last quarter or so of the book
is about the Bernstein’s flight on foot out of South Africa, which is a pretty
harrowing story. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">One of the unexpected things in
that section was a note that “Jim Fish” is apparently an African epithet
roughly equivalent to “Jim Crow” in America - a mocking stereotype of black
people. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I will end with a quote from
Esmond Romilly, who fought in the Spanish Civil War. It is the last sentence of
his book, <i>Boadilla.</i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">“It is not with the happiness of the convinced communist, but
reluctantly that I realize that there will never be peace or any of the things
I like and want until that mixture of profit-seeking, self-interest, cheap
emotion, and organized brutality which is called fascism has been fought and
destroyed for ever.”<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I think that sums up what fascism
is, and why I too consider it part of my life work to speak out against it,
and, I hope, live to see it beaten back yet again. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">***<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Persephone Books:<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/11/saplings-by-noel-streatfeild.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Saplings</span></i></a></span> by
Noel Streatfeild<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2020/12/mariana-by-monica-dickens.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Mariana</span></i></a></span> by
Monica Dickens<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2019/12/good-evening-mrs-craven-wartime-stories.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Good Evening, Mrs. Craven</span></i></a></span>
by Mollie Panter-Downes<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2016/05/miss-pettigrew-lives-for-day-by.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day</span></i></a></span>
by Winifred Watson<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-home-maker-by-dorothy-canfield.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Home-Maker</span></i></a></span>
by Dorothy Canfield Fisher<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-87711383968175091252024-01-25T10:36:00.000-08:002024-01-25T10:36:36.264-08:00David Golder by Irene Nemirovsky<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Source of book: I own this.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is already the most
unexpected book I have read this year. I will explain, but first, a bit about
how I got this book. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As readers of my <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2024/01/christmas-books-2023.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Christmas Books</span></a></span>
series will know, this year I ended up at several used book stores around the
holidays, and found myself (by some strange magic) in possession of a number of
new (well, used…) volumes in my library. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Since my wife and I started dating
nearly 25 years ago, we have regularly visited California’s central coast (<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSMZnWIJRCg"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">remember to take the <i>left</i> turn at Albuquerque
if you want to get to Pismo Beach…</span></a></span>) Back in the day, the
delightful town of San Luis Obispo was home to <i>two</i> used book stores,
which we made sure to visit along with the farmers’ market. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Alas, Leon’s closed over a decade
ago, but at least <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://downtownslo.com/go/phoenix-books"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Phoenix Books</span></a></span> is still there, with
its always-quirky selection and vintage lesbian erotica high up on the walls.
We stopped there on a rainy morning over the New Years holiday this year. And,
well, came back with a stack of books. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I had put Nemirovsky’s recently
published final book, <i>Suite Francaise</i>, on my library list a few years
ago, but wasn’t familiar with her other books. Lo and behold, not only did
Phoenix have a copy of <i>Suite Francaise</i>, but also a hardback edition of
her other four novels, for only eight bucks! You bet I got it. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I decided to start reading one of
the shorter books on my trip, and started at the beginning, with <i>David
Golder</i>.<i> </i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANYocX3IuFVFmvQ-g9W8BKj89KEkwBrnJL7qj6S3QYLY_bvDK2nvaQyYPDC2cAZT2R5BrTgATdMo_LOCmpEEcLvxSIw3Y4ZUzwmz4eg3eNW67UDDCzhvOJJ1ZD1UIvXN_o5gKddahc4Lj3FRrfIOz1dfo-DHwGa6TlJKBLtcMfKh_XaIj8Jp_JPYyxqj5/s1500/Irene_Nemirovsky_25yo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="860" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANYocX3IuFVFmvQ-g9W8BKj89KEkwBrnJL7qj6S3QYLY_bvDK2nvaQyYPDC2cAZT2R5BrTgATdMo_LOCmpEEcLvxSIw3Y4ZUzwmz4eg3eNW67UDDCzhvOJJ1ZD1UIvXN_o5gKddahc4Lj3FRrfIOz1dfo-DHwGa6TlJKBLtcMfKh_XaIj8Jp_JPYyxqj5/w366-h640/Irene_Nemirovsky_25yo.jpg" width="366" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In order to understand the rest of
this post, however, some background is needed. To crib from <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2011/12/reading-christmas-carol-with-my-kids.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Dickens</span></a></span>, “This
must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am
going to relate.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Who was Irene Nemirovsky? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">She was Jewish, born in what is
now Ukraine, but then part of the Russian empire. When she was a teen, the
family fled Russia ahead of the Bolsheviks, who were none too fond of either
Jews or wealthy bankers. Eventually, the family settled in Paris. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Irene married Michael Epstein,
another banker, and they had two daughters. She started writing at a young age,
and by age 26 had won acclaim for <i>David Golder,</i> her first novel. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">More success followed, but then
catastrophe. She had always walked a bit of a fine line, having some of her
works published by a far-right and antisemitic magazine, and cultivating
relationships with people who were prejudiced against her ethnicity. She, like
many other Jewish people in Europe over the centuries, formally converted to
Catholicism in the 1930s. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Unfortunately, none of this saved
her. She and her husband were denied French citizenship. When the Nazis overran
France, they were sent to Auschwitz, where she died of disease, and he was
murdered in the gas chambers. Their daughters were able to escape with the help
of friends - and took with them the manuscript for <i>Suite Francaise</i> which
was written in notebooks. Strangely, they never examined the notebooks until
1998, only then realizing what they had. The book was finally published in
2004. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I relate all of this because one
of the most apparent issues with <i>David Golder</i> is its antisemitic
stereotypes. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I mean, the book is all about a
Jewish banker, who has made his money unscrupulously, has a wife who doesn’t
love him but always wants money, and who dies in part because of overwork,
trying to chase that last deal. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And there are red-headed Jewish
stereotype characters too - Fagan is pretty much the rule here throughout the
book. It’s definitely uncomfortable. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But on the other hand, Nemirovsky
is writing about her own people, and indeed, about her own <i>family</i>. She
had a difficult relationship with her mother, who resented her closeness to her
father, she was raised around bankers and investors, and so on. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And of course, the fact that she
literally died in the Holocaust. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The book was written before Hitler
came to power, and in France, which, for all its typical European antisemitism,
was a pretty safe place to be Jewish at the time. (Arguably less hostile than
either England or the United States.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Did she pander to popular taste to
sell books? Perhaps. She did say later, after Hitler came to power, that she
would have written the book very differently had she foreseen the future. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Despite the stereotypes, the book
is worthwhile. It is short - just a novella - and focuses on the title
character and his decline and death. Aside from the main character, we don’t
get much insight into the psyches of the other characters - although the depth
of characterization for David Golder is impressive. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Considering the youth and
inexperience of the author, the level of writing is surprising - supposedly the
publisher was shocked to discover that the author (hidden behind a pseudonym)
was a young woman, not a middle-aged man. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Readers of Tolstoy will notice a
number of deliberate nods to <i>The Death of Ivan Ilyich</i>, although, apart
from the idea of a greedy man dying, the books are very different
stories. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The genius of the book is that,
while the reader starts out hating Golder, as the book progresses, he becomes
more and more sympathetic. He isn’t merely a greedy capitalist, but a man
driven by his early poverty, the demands of his ungrateful family, and his
alienation as an immigrant who will never be permitted to assimilate, to seek
security in the only thing he has: his business abilities. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">His wife marries him as an escape
from her impoverished and violent home life. She never loves him, and instead
carries on with a series of lovers at his expense. His daughter has been raised
in that environment, and is likewise spoiled and money-focused. And, as it
turns out, she probably isn’t even his biological daughter. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The circles that his wife chooses
to run in cost them a lot of money, but win them no respect or friendship. They
will always be “those rich Jews,” no matter where they go. Accepted only so
long as they are spending money. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The book slowly unfolds all that
he has lost over the years: his happy childhood in Russia, before the pogroms
forced his family out, his youthful idealism, his hopes of a loving marriage
from a woman who deceived him, his idolization of his beautiful daughter, his
friends who die off as he ages, and eventually his vitality. His only true
friend is Soifer, his last connection to his youth, who comes and plays cards
with him even as he is dying. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Over the course of reading the
book, I went from wincing at the stereotypes to a genuine sympathy for the
central character and an appreciation of Nemirovsky’s writing. It felt like
every chapter unpeeled another layer, progressively revealing a more nuanced
and complex life, a true tragedy rather than a comeuppance. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I make a point of reading books in
translation regularly, and this is the first of the year for me. You can look
at the <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/p/books-in-translation.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">list of books in translation I
have blogged about here</span></a></span>. This book and the others in the
collection were translated from French by Sandra Smith, who I think captured
the unique cadence of Nemirovsky’s writing. There are a lot of ellipses, for
example, a use of sentence fragments, and quotes embedded in the stream of
consciousness. It isn’t difficult to read, but definitely distinctive.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are three quotes that I
think illuminate the themes of this book perfectly. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">And the others…His wife…His daughter…Yes, even her, he was no
fool. He was nothing more than a money machine…Good for nothing else…Just pay,
pay, and then, drop down dead.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">His wife, Gloria, justifies her
use of him this way as follows:<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">“But my dear, men like you and Marcus don’t work for their
wives, do they? You work for yourselves…Yes, you do,” she insisted. “In the
end, business is a drug, just like morphine is. If you couldn’t work, darling,
you’d be as miserable as sin…” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Joyce, his daughter, is no
better. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">“Oh!” Joyce said suddenly. “It’s just that I have to have
everything on earth, otherwise I’d rather die! Everything! Everything!” she
repeated with an imperious, feverish look in her eyes. “I don’t know how the
others do it! Daphne sleeps with old Behring for his money, but I need love,
youth, everything the world has to offer…Money…Money too, of course, or rather
beautiful dresses, jewellery! Everything. I mean it, poor Dad! I’m so madly in
love with all of it. I so want to be happy, if only you knew! Otherwise, I
really would rather die, I swear….But I’m not worried. I’ve always had
everything I’ve ever wanted…” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I have many reasons to be grateful
for my life - but a wife who loves me and doesn’t need my money, and children
who are resourceful and thoughtful people are high on the list. And also, a
career situation that isn’t based on competition with others, but on helping
people. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I am looking forward to reading
the other novellas in this collection, and eventually <i>Suite Francaise</i>.
Nemirovsky is a unique voice, with a distinctive writing style. And also, fuck
the Nazis for killing her. They deprived the world of so much goodness to
feed their hate. </p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-57732291235995557232024-01-24T15:17:00.000-08:002024-01-24T15:17:24.731-08:00The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
I own this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is book
number three in the online book club a pair of friends and I have started.
Previously, we read <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/09/that-hideous-strength-by-c-s-lewis.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">That Hideous Strength</span></i><span style="color: #1155cc;">
by C. S. Lewis</span></a> and <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-shining-by-stephen-king.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">The Shining</span></i><span style="color: #1155cc;"> by
Stephen King</span></a>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzLZUiANEy2YasKIYx-KZ08ctuhSRHkfpyUW5PIfbFi425is9jf_jwYgWs9ftIrghUH4JjJgitekflO5ZaPieTiKUpyHqfn5aj7231psVUTtBYArIiSBTpj0PwWSUSmoJy2XBri3lEDwAwCglzynYkDYrv5Qf1ZzwFK42BCa-9y-YI7OFAuqJ-HvyAFhal/s800/The%20Blithedale%20Romance.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzLZUiANEy2YasKIYx-KZ08ctuhSRHkfpyUW5PIfbFi425is9jf_jwYgWs9ftIrghUH4JjJgitekflO5ZaPieTiKUpyHqfn5aj7231psVUTtBYArIiSBTpj0PwWSUSmoJy2XBri3lEDwAwCglzynYkDYrv5Qf1ZzwFK42BCa-9y-YI7OFAuqJ-HvyAFhal/s320/The%20Blithedale%20Romance.webp" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I hadn’t read
much Hawthorne in years, although I read through most of the short stories and <i>The
House of Seven Gables</i> during and after High School in addition to reading <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-scarlet-letter-by-nathaniel.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">The Scarlet Letter</span></i></a> for school. I re-read
that a little over a decade ago. I intended to read <i>The Blithedale Romance</i>
for some time, but just never got to it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Blithedale
Romance</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> is billed as being based on
Hawthorne’s time spent as part of the Brook Farm utopian community, and it
apparently caused a bit of a stir because some of the characters seemed based
on real people. Hawthorne himself denied this in his preface, but the denial is
a bit less than convincing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I was a bit
surprised that the book itself has very little to do with utopianism. Very
little indeed is said about the life of the community, and very few of those
involved actually get names or faces. There is the farm couple, Silas Foster,
the actual farmer, and his wife, who doesn’t get a first name, but all of the
other named characters are the members of the love quadrilateral which makes up
the heart of the story. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Indeed, despite
the readers of his era attempting to determine whether the book was written as
an opposition to socialism or even attempts at social reform generally, or in
favor of them, Hawthorne personally and in this book refuses to take sides. The
issues of social reform are examined, but ultimately the book is one of
personalities and interpersonal conflict, not great social ideas. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Connected to
this as well is the question of the narrator, Miles Coverdale. This is
Hawthorne’s only book written in the first person, so it is tempting to
identify Coverdale and his ideas with Hawthorne. This would be a grave mistake,
as I realized by the end of the book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hawthorne does
not portray Coverdale in a positive way. While he initially seems trustworthy,
if a bit bland, and a man ostensibly interested in social justice; by the end,
it becomes obvious that he is a thoroughly unreliable narrator, a person to
full of himself to be able to understand the dynamics of other relationships
and personalities, a person who is unwilling to sacrifice more than a cigar for
his supposed ideals, and a man who is incapable of honesty even to
himself. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In other words,
I think Coverdale is the most loathsome of Hawthorne’s protagonists, and I
actually find him less likable than even Roger Chillingsworth in <i>The Scarlet
Letter.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hawthorne
clearly understands this - he wrote the character this way, and gives him the
unhappy life that is the natural consequence of his actions. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In light of
this, reading Coverdale’s eventual rejection of social reform as Hawthorne’s
own view seems disingenuous. Coverdale isn’t Hawthorne, but he is a nuanced
character created by Hawthorne for this book. Hawthorne all too fully
understands the inherent flaws in Coverdale. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">To the degree
that Hawthorne is making any sort of an argument about socialism and utopian
communities, it is that all good intentions are undermined by human frailty. It
is easy to claim a desire for social equality, but to actually interact on an
equal basis proves difficult. It is easy to approve of feminism until you have
to wash the dishes. It is nice to think of an egalitarian community, but less
fun to go muck out the barn or hoe the crops. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This gap
between aspiration and execution is a key theme in the book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You see it in
the main characters’ condescension toward the Fosters, who are the only reason
they don’t starve. You see it in the of-its-time stereotypes of the Irish (as
big-boned, washerwomen, and so on) blithely used by its characters. You see it
in the way Coverdale and Hollingsworth are unable to see women as
fully-realized humans. And most obviously, you see it in the way that grand
plans and esoteric ideas never really result in concrete change, either in
society, or in the characters themselves. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The four main
characters are Coverdale, the young poet who halfheartedly joins Blithedale;
Hollingsworth, the social reformer (who is likely a composite of Brook Farm
founder George Ripley, reformer Orestes Brownson, and prison reformers Charles
and Murray Spear, who never were part of Brook Farm); “Zenobia,” the sensual
and feminist woman that Hollingsworth appears to be a couple with; and
Priscilla, a rescued seamstress with a mysterious past. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When I say
“love quadrilateral,” I mean that with all points connected. While
Hollingsworth is ostensibly coupled with Zenobia, it becomes clear later
[spoiler] that he is also connected to Priscilla. Coverdale claims at the end
to have been in love with Priscilla, but spends a lot of the book fascinated
personally and sexually with Zenobia. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And that is
just the heterosexual tension. Coverdale starts his stay at Blithedale ill
after a slog in a snowstorm (drawn from Hawthorne’s actual experience), and is
nursed back to health by Hollingsworth. They start out incredibly close, until
Hollingsworth tries to recruit Coverdale to his scheme of converting Blithedale
into an institution for reformation of prisoners. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The language
and symbolism Hawthorne uses goes beyond a simple friendship into man crush
territory. Hollingsworth’s pleas sound like a marriage proposal, and Coverdale
acts like he has had a bad breakup. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Oh, and also,
Priscilla throws herself at Zenobia’s feet in a manner carefully drawn to be
like a suitor’s proposal, and the language the two of them use about each other
is beyond ordinary friendship. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Yes, I know
that often same-sex friendships used language we now find homoerotic, but
Hawthorne seems to be deliberately creating sexual tension here as well. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This all sets
up a series of betrayals that bring the book to its tragic conclusion. It isn’t
that socialism has failed, but rather that the ideals of the community in
having relationships as “brothers and sisters” have been undermined and
destroyed by the conflicting goals and actions of the characters. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Hollingsworth
doesn’t care about either woman; what he cares about is money to build his
reformatory. (The fact he fails at this too is part of the betrayal.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Zenobia wants
to be loved for who she is, not for her money, but neither man truly respects
her. Hollingsworth turns out to be appallingly anti-feminist, while Coverdale
simply doesn’t care about Zenobia beyond his fantasies of her naked body and
imagined sexual experience. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Priscilla wants
freedom from the spiritualist charlatan she has been nearly enslaved by, but
Hollingsworth and Zenobia end up betraying her to him. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And Coverdale:
what <i>does</i> he want? Perhaps to feel like a good, progressive person, but
without actually having to act like one? Is he content to live in his own
fantasy world, without actually learning to relate to other people? Does he
really see Blithedale and its people as just fodder for that epic poem he
intends to write someday? That last one is all too plausible. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Blithedale
Romance</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> is a good example of what Hawthorne
does best: examine the psychology of humanity gone wrong. As in <i>The Scarlet
Letter</i>, nobody - <i>nobody</i> - has pure motives. Particularly the
respectable or self-righteous characters. Hawthorne pokes at the sore spots in
this book, particularly those of people who aspire to be social reformers. It
really is the question of whether one is doing any good, or <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-thanksgiving-play-by-larissa.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">just making one’s self feel good about it</span></a>. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I have to quote
a few lines, starting with this one by Coverdale that hints about how useless
he would be as a utopian. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“What a pity,” I remarked, “that the
kitchen, and the house-work generally, cannot be left out of our system
altogether! It is odd enough, that the kind of labor which falls to the lot of
women is just that which chiefly distinguishes artificial life - the life of
degenerated mortals - from the life of Paradise. Eve had no dinner-pot, and no
clothes to mend, and no washing-day.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Zenobia
snarkingly points out that it is in the middle of a snow storm, so you need
clothes and food, which can’t just be picked from the trees. In any case,
Paradise has always been a human fantasy, only approached by those wealthy
enough to experience it on the backs of the oppressed. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Later that
night, Coverdale sees Mrs. Foster (the unnamed wife of Silas) “fall fast
asleep” while continuing to knit. I mention this because I suspect it is
possible that my wife could indeed knit in her sleep, although I haven’t yet
seen it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Priscilla also
creates, in her case, these fine purses, which Coverdale muses might be “a
symbol of Priscilla’s own mystery.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I had to look
up dates, because, I mean, Freud, right? Well, <i>The Blithedale Romance</i>
was published in 1851, and <i>The Interpretation of Dreams</i> didn’t come out
until 1899. Heck, Freud wasn’t born until 1856. So maybe rather than saying
Hawthorne was intentionally using Freudian imagery, maybe it was Freud using
Hawthornian imagery? It sure looks like Hawthorne was consciously using the
“purse as symbol of the vagina” a half century before Freud spelled it
out. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Gender fluidity
also makes an appearance. In Hawthorne’s day, the respective spheres of women
and men was more rigid, and, thanks to the Cult of Domesticity, certain virtues
were assigned as “female” even more than they are now, which is difficult to
comprehend, given our current moment of toxic masculinity and fear that any
physical affection or caretaking is somehow “gay” if a guy does it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Coverdale
laments that men are socialized against caretaking, but notes that
Hollingsworth seems to be an exception. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But there was something of the woman
moulded into the great, stalwart frame of Hollingsworth; nor was he ashamed of
it, as men often are of what is best in them, nor seemed ever to know that
there was such a soft place in his heart.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is a
paradox, in light of Hollingsworth’s fairly vicious anti-feminism later in the
book. But I have seen it myself, in plenty of otherwise tender and naturally
nurturing men who have bought into the patriarchal ideology. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Not too long
after this, Coverdale becomes disillusioned by Hollingsworth, after realizing
that Hollingsworth is really all about his philanthropy, and doesn’t care about
specific people that way. This observation was interesting to me, because I
have seen a similar phenomenon, where a cause leads to a person mistaking their
own obsessions for divine revelation. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">He had taught his benevolence to pour
its warm tide exclusively through one channel; so that there was nothing to
spare for other great manifestations of love to man, nor scarcely for the
nutriment of individual attachments, unless they could minister, in some way,
to the terrible egotism which he mistook for an angel of God.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I also took
note of the extended conversation between Zenobia and Coverdale on whether men
or women were the more happy. I decided it was too long to reproduce, but it
was fascinating. Coverdale thinks women are happier, because if they get that <i>one
great thing</i> - namely marriage - that’s all they need. Zenobia insists that
men are happier, because they have so many more options - they can find
happiness in any of a plethora of facets of their life. As I mentioned, don’t
mistake Hawthorne for Coverdale. This conversation reveals far more
nuance. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I also found
this line interesting, as part of Coverdale’s opinion that utopia was a young
person’s project. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Age, wedded to the past, incrusted over
with a stony layer of habits, and retaining nothing fluid in its possibilities,
would have been absurdly out of place in an enterprise like this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But Coverdale
also pulls back, unwilling to entirely commit even to that. His ideals remain
at best nebulous and ephemeral. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But, so long as our union should
subsist, a man of intellect and feeling, with a free nature in him, might have
sought far and near, without finding so many points of attraction as would
allure him hitherward. We were of all creeds and opinions, and generally
tolerant of all, on every imaginable subject. Our bond, it seems to me, was not
affirmative, but negative. We had individually found one thing or another to
quarrel with, in our past life, and were pretty well agreed as to the
inexpediency of lumbering along with the old system any farther. As to what
should be substituted, there was much less unanimity. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">After yet
another truly blithery monologue from Coverdale, when he waxes eloquent about
how all of them will be remembered in his epic poem centuries in the future,
Hollingsworth finally calls him out on it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“You seem,” said Hollingsworth,” to be
trying how much nonsense you can pour out in a breath.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That has to be
the funniest moment in the book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Near the end,
after Hollingsworth’s betrayal of Zenobia, she and Coverdale are left alone.
She too upbraids him for his ineffectiveness and lack of understanding. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">“Ah, I perceive what you are about! You
are turning this whole affair into a ballad.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That is the
tragedy of Coverdale. Even after everything, he himself admits that he has not
change, that he has learned nothing. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Even though the
book doesn’t really address the utopian community or utopianism generally, it
is a good read, with plenty of psychodrama that remains relevant in our
time. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">If you want to
read one of the best - and certainly the most humorous - accounts of a utopian
experiment, I recommend <a href="https://www.online-literature.com/bayard-taylor/4638/"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">The Experiences of the A. C. </span></i><span style="color: #1155cc;">by Bayard Taylor</span></a>. (And also his account of
visiting California during the Gold Rush, <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/04/eldorado-by-bayard-taylor.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">El Dorado</span></i></a>.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-89322978160732275712024-01-23T16:08:00.000-08:002024-01-23T16:08:02.546-08:00George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm by Miranda Carter<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Source of book: Borrowed from the
library</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The question of what war in
history was the most senseless and stupid has a lot of competition, but it is
pretty difficult to dispute that World War One belongs in the conversation. A
war that few wanted, that was completely avoidable, and which led to the
greatest carnage of any war to that date. Oh, and it set the stage for phase
two of the conflict, World War Two, and strongly contributed to totalitarian
Communist revolutions in Russia and China. That’s a lot of damage from one
incredibly pointless war. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But how did things get to that
state in the first place? There are a lot of interconnected reasons, and much
ink has been spilled about that. Miranda Carter takes a look at a less explored
part of the equation by going all the way back to the three cousins that were
on the thrones of major powers at the time of the war, their lives, and how
they contributed to the conflict. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnWXTwj20RqozwNRoHVWqDZuZGi7k_XtNZafZ0w_gI0odbQ_tstMrTY9ZP_UjjJXh8CSyMrpVuka4LuHvlKHMQm1dtC607NzCdDSaBN2hFxhoeXJDuFX-azCVpcgXJQ7tK3c7heS6QGtVan4gmZqNazEkRJdrTTRQQQdYGrRqOCIiLwdB95yvaaeVQ6Bp9/s726/George%20Nicholas%20Wilhelm.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="726" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnWXTwj20RqozwNRoHVWqDZuZGi7k_XtNZafZ0w_gI0odbQ_tstMrTY9ZP_UjjJXh8CSyMrpVuka4LuHvlKHMQm1dtC607NzCdDSaBN2hFxhoeXJDuFX-azCVpcgXJQ7tK3c7heS6QGtVan4gmZqNazEkRJdrTTRQQQdYGrRqOCIiLwdB95yvaaeVQ6Bp9/w400-h230/George%20Nicholas%20Wilhelm.webp" width="400" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">To say that the royal families of
Europe in the modern era are an incestuous mess is perhaps even an
understatement. By the late Victorian Era, everyone was related to everyone,
and not just by marriage. The families had intermarried for generations, so a
chart of the connections looks less like a family tree and more like a family
spider web. (Carter starts the book with four pages of family trees, and notes
all the places the four connect.) </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">King George V of England and
Wilhelm II of Germany were first cousins and grandsons of Queen Victoria.
Nicholas II of Russia was related to the others by marriage - he married
another of Victoria’s grandchildren, and Wilhelm I married another member of the
Romanov family. Oh, and George’s father Edward VII and Tsar Alexander III both
married members of the Danish royal family, which intersects with the other
trees in other places. It’s a total mess, and I’m probably leaving some
connections out. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In any case, George, Nicholas, and
Wilhelm were originally close due to their family connections. The great
matriarch, Victoria, firmly believed that the key to keeping the peace in
Europe would be the close family relationships of their rulers. Which, perhaps,
demonstrates her lack of understanding of families and how they actually
function. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">By World War One, these
relationships had deteriorated, undermined by constantly shifting political
issues, alliances, and personal feuds. Take your average family disputes and
add enormous egos fed by a lifetime of coddling and entitlement, mix in some narcissism,
sprinkle a lot of military honor culture, and fold in colonialism, and you have
a combustible mix which was bound to explode sooner or later. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This book is nearly 500 rather
dense pages long, but at least the writing and storytelling is good. Carter
does her best to give a lot of detail, including a tremendous amount of
primary-source information: correspondence, diary entries, newspaper articles,
minutes from conferences, and so on. The result is a flood of information that
can only be absorbed in moderate doses. (Hence why I have been working on the
book for a couple months.) </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">What does emerge is a compelling
picture of the massive cultural shift from the early 1800s to the early 1900s
from monarchy and military honor culture to the constitutional legislative and
administrative state. England had already made most of the shift - even
Victoria was essentially a figurehead by the end of her reign - but both Russia
and Germany were initially full autocracies, and governance of large and
complex states suffered greatly as a result. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I cannot attempt to give more of a
summary of these three interlocking stories of the main characters, let alone
the roles of other important people, from Edward VII to Bernard von Bulow to
Rasputin. These are all fascinating stories too, and fill out the colorful
society portrayed in this book. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are a lot of great quotes
that I think illuminate the complexities of the political issues of the time.
I’ll try to discuss a few highlights in the hope that those who are fascinated
with history will give the book a read. World War Two tends to suck the
historical oxygen from the room with its dramatic personalities, big bombs, and
its notorious genocide, but understanding this second war requires examining
the first, and the decades of events that led to it. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Of the three, Wilhelm is the one
that fascinated me the most, in no small part because he reminds me so much of
Trump. The time was different, so, while Wilhelm (as well as many others in all
three countries) was antisemitic, he didn’t need to win a vote, and so didn’t
rely on stirring up hate for his power. The rest, though, are there. The
narcissism, the persecution complex, the inability to focus on any one thing
long enough to do more than fuck it up, the massive and irrational ego, and so
on. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Wilhelm’s problems didn’t come out
of nowhere, though. His German father wanted him to grow up German, in military
culture, while his English mother (Victoria’s daughter) preferred a strict
British school experience. This meant eventually a rather abusive tutor and a
lot of parental conflict. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">A depressive, he seems to have become convinced that he was
locked in a Manichean battle to mould Willy’s character, without being able to
see that everything he was doing was making it worse. The plan was, as Wilhelm
later wrote, to “grasp hold of the soul of the pupil…to ‘wrench it into shape.”
Rather than realizing that at least part of Willy’s arrogance was an attempt to
hold on to some shreds of self-confidence in the face of constant character
demolition, Hinzpeter believed that what his charge needed was “humiliation.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is, unfortunately, the core
of every authoritarian parenting style. The task of “raising a child” is all
about making the child a certain way, and humiliating the child if he or she
wasn’t compliant. And no, for most children, this backfires. I know my parents
love to accuse me of being arrogant, but I know that what really bothers them
is that I stand up for my beliefs when those beliefs conflict with theirs - it
is the same power struggle as when I was a child, except they have lost the
power they once had. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Wilhelm went on to say later:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">“The impossible was expected of the pupil in order to force
him to the nearest degree of perfection. Naturally the impossible goal could
never be achieved; logically, therefore, the praise which registers approval
was also excluded.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Like Wilhelm, Nicholas was raised
with certain beliefs about his role in the world - namely, the Divine Right of
Kings, which England had rejected in favor of a constitutional monarchy. It is
fascinating to see the direct correspondence between the Christian Nationalist
movement, which has coalesced around Donald “Grab ‘em by the Pussy” Trump as
their messiah, the old Tsarist project, and Putin’s aggression.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">[Ivan the Great] acquired a set of useful messianic myths
about Russia’s world mission: to recapture Constantinople, or Tsargrad as the
Russians called it, for Christianity (and rather more usefully, to gain secure
access to Europe and the Mediterranean for its grain and navy), and to
“protect” the Slavic peoples of the Balkans against the Ottoman empire. This
dual mission caused his authority to be underwritten by the Russian Orthodox
Church. The tsar became the great defender of Orthodoxy; the Church, tied
closer to the state than in any country in Europe, declared that the tsar was
God’s representative on earth and he must be obeyed at all costs. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It all ties together: religion,
ethnocentrism, authoritarianism, and power. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Back to Wilhelm, this passage also
made me think about Trump, and his pretense to being a man of culture, when
everyone knows he is an ignorant idiot. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Wilhelm considered himself an expert on many things, and was
not shy about saying so. In subsequent years, he would personally inform the
Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg that he was conducting <i>Peer Gynt</i> all
wrong; tell Richard Strauss that modern composition was “detestable” and he was
“one of the worst”; and, against the wishes of its judges, withdraw the
Schiller Prize from the Nobel Prize-winning German dramatist Gerhart Hauptmann,
whose downbeat Ibsen-esque social realism he didn’t like. A hundred years
before, when courts had still been centres of cultural patronage, such
decisions might have been accepted without comment; now, however, even in
Germany the emperor’s taste was frequently the subject of hilarity. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It wasn’t just art, either.
Wilhelm thought he was a genius about everything (sound familiar?) but was
fundamentally incompetent. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Wilhelm appeared unable to distinguish the trivial from the
important - he’d spend hours looking at photographs of warships or moving the
position of the smoke stacks on a new cruiser, rather than read government
reports. He had no idea how he was going to accomplish all the great things he
had promised. For him kingship had been a rather vague notion of having power,
being great and beloved. Worse, he was an appalling vacillator, changing his
mind - he was too often influenced by the last person he’d talked to, and
constantly in quest of popularity - with such frequency that it drove his
ministers mad and made the government look irresolute and confused. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Hmm, again, that really sounds
familiar. Predictably, this led to chaos and ineffective government, at a time
when modern societies were becoming ever more complex and technical to
govern. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">This lack of focus, even chaos, was becoming characteristic
of German politics. Even those embedded in the system could see it. Holstein
privately complained that sometimes he seemed to be working in an
“operetta-style government.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It wasn’t just in Germany that the
aristocracy was finding itself losing the unquestioning obeisance it was used
to. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The obsession with appearances extended further than uniforms
into an insistence on certain rules and conformity of behavior and had more
sinister consequences than mere pointlessness and triviality. It almost
guaranteed that a kind of hypocrisy became encrusted in the culture of court
and the upper classes. In Germany, the dominance of and cultural fascination
with the army pressed upon the Berlin court and predominant class a caricature
hyper-masculinity. In England the aristocracy’s insistence that they lead
society by virtue of their virtue meant that they believed they must appear
above reproach in everything. Too much was expected, too much forbidden. The
conflict could be seen in Wilhelm himself: the imperative to be manly and
soldierly all the time had turned him into a caricature and forced him to take
refuge in periodic breakdowns. Among Edward’s aristocratic set public exposure
was the ultimate sanction, but one could do almost anything society in the
wider sense condemned - have mistresses, gamble, take an unseemly interest in
livestock or small boys - as long as one wasn’t discovered or didn’t open up
that world to scrutiny, for example by leaving one’s spouse. It was the price
the ruling class found itself increasingly paying for laying claim to social
seniority and power on the basis of seemingly pristine morality and perfect
appearances. Aristocracies had perhaps always lived by appearances, but with a
public increasingly self-aware and demanding, and a press increasingly
powerful, when the rest of the world got a handle on scandal behind the court’s
closed doors, the effects could be devastating; while those who kept
irreproachably to the rules would too often be forced to live lives of
desiccated self-denial. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If anything, the Russian
government was even worse and more incompetent. Nicholas had even more power,
and even less ability to effectively govern. Added to this was a deep
introversion and a distrust of everyone outside his close circle. As a British
diplomat wrote about the impossibility of a functional relationship with the
Russian government said, “Nothing remains secret here long. The difficulty here
is to sift the truth from the lies.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In connection with the problem of
distrust of the British, the author notes that there was a rational basis for
this. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The British had a bad habit of moving in their troops on high
moral grounds and then accidentally taking over.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This also sounds familiar,
yes? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Nicholas was in way over his head,
and responded in the worst possible way most of the time. The world was
changing, but he was unable to accept that truth. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Russia was in the grip of great social and economic change,
and the government was increasingly inadequate to confront it, and he himself
believed utterly that he was the only man who could rule it. But he closed
himself away. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This too sounds relevant today,
doesn’t it? Things are changing, but the American Right refuses to accept it
and find solutions to the actual problems we face, choosing instead to try to
return to a mythical past. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">European courts, all desperately trying to keep out new
forces - trade, the bourgeoisie, industry, democracy - which they saw as
threats to their status and influence, but their only weapon besides barricades
was a desperate holding on to the past. They had ceased to be places where one
went to seek one’s fortune, where art was created, or political debate took
places, as they had been in the eighteenth century, instead becoming strangled
by hierarchy and a million tiny rules, the more arbitrary the better. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Yet another way of channeling
one’s insecurities in socially harmful ways. Again, Nicholas was the worst
about this. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Nicholas compensated for his anxious feelings of inadequacy
and lack of preparedness by holding tenaciously to his belief in divine right.
The moment the crown had touched his head, he had become a vehicle for God’s
purpose and had magically absorbed a kind of spiritual superiority which made
him, whatever his inadequacies, better equipped than any minister to know what
Russia needed. It was a mystical idea far more literal even than the
pronouncements about his relationship with God which had brought Wilhelm such
derision in Europe, and in Nicholas it encouraged a kind of fatalism which
would make him oddly passive in a crisis. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">An interesting parallel to the
Divine Right of Kings in politics is the Divine Right of Parents in patriarchy.
I really do believe that my parents compensated for their feelings of
inadequacy as parents (and really, no parent is adequate - we are all making it
up as we go) by embracing this idea that God spoke through them to their
children. Parenthood itself granted that kind of spiritual superiority by
magic. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t work out well in the end for them
either. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Despite the name, the book
actually spends more time talking about Edward VII than George. This is because
George didn’t ascend to the crown until fairly late - 1910 - and during most of
the timeframe of the book, Edward was king. Honestly, Edward wasn’t terrible:
he was pretty good at what he did. But he was also a figurehead, not a ruler.
Even if he didn’t always understand that. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">His powerlessness made Edward lose his temper frequently. It
was hard for the British royals to reconcile themselves to this. The habit of
deference and courtesy around them meant that the reality of their lack of
power was not reflected by the way people felt obligated to treat them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The Boer War also changed the
dynamic. Although the British empire wouldn’t actually shrink until World War
Two, the threads were already starting to unravel. Public opinion was shifting,
particularly abroad. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Anti-British cartoons, especially in Germany and France,
showed British soldiers bayoneting Boer babies; Edward himself was drawn
standing on the mutilated bodies of Boer women and children. As the war entered
its second year, the British army, under the leadership of Lord Kitchener, had
become utterly ruthless in an attempt to flush out the last Boer guerrilla
fighters. It burned farms, shot prisoners, and interned women and children,
Boer and black, in concentration camps, efficient new invention pioneered a few
years before by the Spanish during the Spanish-American War. There the
internees died in shaming numbers of famine, thirst, cholera, and mistreatment.
The conditions were so appalling that criticism was beginning to leak into
mainstream British politics. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The Nazis didn’t invent anything.
Much of the worst of what they did was borrowed from countries we like to
pretend were the “good guys.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The Boer war cost Britain an
incredible amount both in lives and treasure. But also in prestige. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Almost immediately the British government handed over £3
million for reparations and the reconstruction of the two Boer states and
promised their incumbents self-government within the British empire - a gesture
which kick-started the country’s international rehabilitation, but also
signalled the pointlessness of the struggle, and prompted questions for the
first time about whether the empire was costing Britain rather than enriching
it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Hold that thought, because
colonialism is going to be a huge factor in the downfall of Russia, and
eventually Germany as well. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Into this stew, Wilhelm kept
inserting himself, believing that he and only he could conduct the personal
negotiations necessary to end conflict.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The Greek royal family quietly loathed him, and his cousin
Marie of Romania found him unbearably condescending. The paradox was, of
course, that being so bad at personal relationships, Wilhelm should believe so
deeply in conducting international relations through personal relationships.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Again, sound familiar? Anyone else
these days think he has the key to the art of the deal but is really terrible
at it? </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Speaking of modern narcissists,
how about Russia’s ongoing colonialist adventures?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">For Russia, even more than for most countries, war had often
proved disastrous. The Crimean War and the Russo-Turkish War of the 1870s had
been disasters. Both had left Russia in debt and near-bankrupt, had crippled
development, created internal disaffection and lasting hostility with foreign
powers. The government and its institutions were in no state to bear the
strains of war, and unlike, say, Britain, the country wouldn’t bear the
expense. It was a lesson the Russian government would have done well to remember
before it found itself at war with Japan in February 1904. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As an aside, Haruki Murakami
talked about this conflict and its sequel in a forgotten episode of World War
Two, in <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-wind-up-bird-chronicle-by-haruki.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle</span></i></a>. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Germany eventually would find
itself making terrible decisions because of its lust to join the great
colonialist powers and expand its colonies. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The problem with aggressive programmes of imperial expansion
in distant places is that, when they go wrong, the consequences are felt much
closer to home. Russia had already experienced the bitter results of an
imperial misadventure; now it was Germany’s turn. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In this case, it was the disaster
in Morocco, which ended up solidifying the alliance between France and
England. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The book talks a good bit about
the relationships of the British royals to the politicians with actual power.
Many of the names are familiar to me because Winston Churchill talks about them
extensively in his writings on British history and World War Two. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I’ll mention David Lloyd George
and the way that both Edward and George hated him, both for his policies and
his commoner background. Henry Asquith also gets some play, and he is always
witty. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The most surprising thing, though,
was to read about a tiff between George and Winston Churchill. Churchill
quipped in a report on employment legislation that there were as many “idlers
and wastrels” at the top of the social ladder as at the bottom, which is pretty
self-evident. George fired back that Churchill was a socialist. Which is pretty
funny, considering that Churchill was pretty conservative. But for a monarchist
or a white supremacist today, anything that challenges hierarchy is
“socialist,” right?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Closer to a true socialist
(although not really that close) was Lloyd George. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The much-loathed Lloyd George had drafted his Budget and
launched it with speeches which cheerily and baldly pointed out the gap between
rich and poor in a way that no British statesman ever had, and with great
panache and humour. “A fully equipped Duke costs as much to keep as two
Dreadnoughts and is more difficult to scrap.” </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">That’s a great line. Just
substitute “billionaire” today, and it is still true. Perhaps even more so.
This also serves as a bit of a warning for today’s Right Wing - history shows
that when inequality rises too high, changes come, whether peacefully or violently,
but they come. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">After twelve years in government the Conservatives were an
exhausted force. It was surprising perhaps that a party so predicated on
privilege had lasted so long, though as governments have learned since, you can
get voters to vote against their own economic interests if you can find
something sufficiently powerful to counter them with - religion, a powerful
hate, a collective (even if unrealistic) aspiration. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Um, Christian Nationalism, white
supremacy and anti-LGBTQ hate, and MAGA anyone? As Lyndon Johnson correctly
noted before I was born:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in; tab-stops: 31.5pt;"><span style="color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent1;">"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the
best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him
somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."</span><span style="mso-tab-count: 9;"> </span>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 7;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are a few more pithy quotes
about foreign policy and politics that I have to mention. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">How to calm the inevitable accusations from Germany that the
Convention was aimed at them? For lack of any other ideas, the British
government went for the tried, trusted, and utterly unsatisfactory method of a
state visit. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Or this one, again poking a bit at
the British: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">That the German Foreign Office was using a warship as
leverage seemed to the British Foreign Office and Asquith a dangerous
precedent: not merely another swipe at France, but a direct challenge to
British naval supremacy and therefore its Great Power status - gunboat
diplomacy had always been a particular British specialty. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In the run-up to World War One,
the German military (which held increasing and eventually near-total power over
German politics due to an ineffective Wilhelm and a mostly powerless
legislature) decided that war was necessary and inevitable - in fact, it started
to advocate for “preventative war” - as much an oxymoron as a preemptive strike
usually is in practice. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In the end, either Russia or
Germany could have stood down, and kept the war from happening. But once
Germany decided that invading France was necessary as “preventative war,” it
was nearly inevitable that world war would come. The aftermath of the war may
have been mishandled and guaranteed that Germany would fight again, but it is
difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Allies were right: more than any
other country, Germany was responsible for the war. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are a couple of incidents
that didn’t fit into the flow that I wanted to mention somewhere, so I’ll do it
here. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">First is the story of Nabokov’s
great-uncle. The Grand Duke Sergei was blown to tiny bits by an anarchist’s
bomb, one of a series of anarchist acts which form the basis of Joseph Conrad’s
fascinating novel, <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2021/05/under-western-eyes-by-joseph-conrad.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc;">Under Western Eyes</span></i></a>. The great-uncle was a
friend of Sergei, and was offered a carriage ride home. He declined, and missed
being blown up. <i>Then</i>, a few years later, he was offered a ticket on the
Titanic, but likewise refused. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">He comes into the story because he
was elected to the Duma after the reforms. Nicholas distrusted the Duma,
considering them to be a bunch of peasants. However, Nabokov’s father was one
of the new members, and their family went back centuries as part of the
aristocracy close to the tsars. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The final incident was after
Wilhelm had, yet again, made an idiot of himself in foreign policy, the
Reichstag finally had enough, and publicly denounced him. He pouted as usual,
and his lackeys tried to calm him down. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">In an effort to distract him, the kaiser’s entourage decided
to put on an entertainment, the kind that amused him: a ballet spectacular
performed by the middle-aged members of his various cabinets. The climax was a
performance by Field Marshal Count Dietrich von Hulsen-Haeseler, the hefty,
fifty-six-year-old chief of Wilhelm’s military cabinet. Described in some
sources as wearing a pink tutu (“not for the first time,” Zedlitz-Trutschler
wrote), in others in a pink ball gown - what was undisputed was that he was in
drag - with a large feather in his hair, he performed a series of energetic
pirouettes, jumps and capers, flirtaciously blew kisses to his audience,
stumbled off the stage and suffered a massive heart attack that killed him
instantly. It was reported that by the time the doctors arrived, rigor mortis
was so far advanced that it was extremely difficult to get Hulsen out of his
tutu and into his military uniform. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Yeah, that’s a pretty crazy story.
Too implausible for fiction, clearly. Also, Wilhelm’s cabinet was gay as hell -
eventually there was a huge scandal and a bunch of trials. Unfortunately, it
also led to an increase in hyper-masculinity in German society and eventually
Hitler’s attempts at extermination. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">That at least gives some idea of
the best lines in the book. There is so much more information, though. If you
like history, it’s a well written and well researched book with a fascinating
story to tell. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-51429111710138566262024-01-22T16:02:00.000-08:002024-01-22T16:02:55.025-08:00Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana<p>Source of book: Borrowed from the
library<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This book is one of the NPR
recommendations from last year. Sidik Fofana is a teacher, who decided to write
about gentrification from the point of view of the tenants who are all too
easily displaced. Like the author, the characters live and work in Brooklyn. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz51cN6ZlD98yRlYh5eY702_OXopXCYsNlwuIU5ISTiI-YiPGTS06gmDMol-aL_uQ7FFQd7PqbT22vRK5s2t5-gMEHfJ0XDhdUy7bN4iGdq3c6usMqI4_LDhHUDGKrkmfi-VSutkClzrjLknoRpf0XodpErCOHaJHVDsQxB0JBuV_q8t_lunEOqzT7I3WE/s438/Stories%20from%20the%20Tenants%20Downstairs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="438" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz51cN6ZlD98yRlYh5eY702_OXopXCYsNlwuIU5ISTiI-YiPGTS06gmDMol-aL_uQ7FFQd7PqbT22vRK5s2t5-gMEHfJ0XDhdUy7bN4iGdq3c6usMqI4_LDhHUDGKrkmfi-VSutkClzrjLknoRpf0XodpErCOHaJHVDsQxB0JBuV_q8t_lunEOqzT7I3WE/s320/Stories%20from%20the%20Tenants%20Downstairs.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <i>The Tenants Downstairs</i> is a
collection of eight interconnected short stories, each told from the
perspective of a different tenant. Old men and women, middle aged residents,
teens, and children each get a chance to tell their stories. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Through their stories, a picture
emerges of a community under pressure and threat from forces bigger than them.
Hanging on to their homes because of rent control and tenant protections, they
find themselves a single missed payment away from eviction, as demand for their
apartments by far wealthier people erodes the former lenience. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Nobody in this book is wealthy,
but some are at least lower-middle-class, often working multiple jobs or having
a side hustle to make the rent and keep the kids fed and clothed. The teens are
juggling trying to learn in a struggling school with homelessness, deaths of
family members, and bullying. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I’m not going to summarize the
plots, but just note that every perspective is unique. The same incident is
described differently by different characters - very true to life. The book
isn’t long, but it is a good read. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are a few quotes that I
think express some pushback against the white, middle-class tendency to blame
low income people for their own problems, particularly if those people have
darker skin. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Our world is set up to “work” for
certain people, and not for others. Just this last year, I have had several
situations in my life where my options were an order of magnitude better simple
because my wife and I make enough money to weather emergencies without worrying
about the necessities. It makes a big difference, and I appreciate the
privilege. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Just an example here is that a
vehicle breakdown for our family is an inconvenience, not a threat. Yes, with
kids in college and different schedules, getting everyone where they need to be
is a pain in the butt. And it sucks to pay for car repair. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But neither of us risks losing our
jobs, and the cost isn’t money that we needed for rent and food. That’s what
having enough money means to us. Not buying the latest and greatest, but not
having to <i>worry</i>. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As one resident, trying
desperately to make rent, explains:<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">“You didn’t come up here for no shoot-ups. You came here to
make a good life on your own.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">“People on TV don’t understand that and never will. They need
to stop frontin like all people want in life is food and a roof.”<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">People in this book are complex.
It is easy to see the flaws and the mistakes, but it is <i>complicated</i>.
Like we all are. Some just have more of a margin for error. I thought this
humorous moment was nice. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Me and Boons walk down two-fifth to my crib. Whole time Boons
is bumpin into incense and soap stands and stoppin Yellow Cabs when they had
the green light. He yellin, Y’all done fucked up and let me back, New York!
Y’all shoulda flushed me down the toilet when y’all had the chance. That’s
Boons, though. He the type to not learn shit in the bing. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Another fascinating moment comes
when a gay guy explains how so many (particularly in movies) make assumptions
about gay men that aren’t accurate, expecting them to be promiscuous and ready
to kiss any other man when given the chance. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Look at all the movies. Anytime they show us, we gotta be on
our knees. It can’t jus be us regular. If they did a movie about my buildin,
they wouldn’t care about the two dudes upstairs who been together for years.
They wouldn’t show when they jumped the broom in the bingo room. How everybody
was happy even though it wasn’t official. They wouldn’t show the butch lady in
4D who is always wearing a necktie and got a computer certificate. They don’t
care about that. That’s why we gotta be more. But some people is hell-bent on
making you a prostitute.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">But like I said to Qua all they think we do is run around
givin each other sex. They think you gay was cuz suttin happened, even though
you tell them you knew since the very first time you was at the public pool and
you seen the lifeguard’s penis accidentally come out his shorts like a beaver.
Again, that’s why I be careful what I do. I do what I do behind closed doors. I
don’t be publicizin or braggin. When I’m around straight men, I make them feel
comfortable. Even if I gotta change how I talk. That make it easier for all us.
That’s what I tried to tell Qua. Plus, my aunt when she was alive said you can
sell whatever you want, but it’s over when you start sellin you. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The last story, about an old man
who just wants to sit outside on the sidewalk and talk people into playing
chess with him, also has a line about misperception. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">See, the problem is when you old, everybody think you
satisfied with the livin you’ve done. They like to think of you as perfumed in
dry piss waitin for your call to sunset. Never mind you could have a whole
twenty years left. They’ll still act like your back is crooked. You think I
just come out here to expire?<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And that is how this book is: it
pushes back on stereotypes, on assumptions, on the flattening we do when it
comes to other people. No one in this book is simple. Everyone has hopes and
dreams and weaknesses and a story to tell. And all of this is lived in
community - the very thing that gentrification most threatens, just like
redlining and freeway building has in the past. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It’s a short book, compact and
succinct. It shows rather than preach, just giving a window into other lives,
and the way they are lived. Give it a try and then take some time to think
afterward. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-89256894448729064022024-01-21T17:19:00.000-08:002024-01-21T17:19:30.236-08:00The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Source of book: Audiobook
from the library</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As a classical musician,
this book went on my list as soon as it came out. It sounded like an
interesting blend of genres, and a chance to read fiction that <i>actually got
music stuff right</i>. (And don’t get me started on all of the god-awful
terrible no-good faking that goes on in movies.) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQ4QU4BtX43f9RM-AMv759lOznXh1vjwMqCstoy_-_cAbOk1yFTWXy074NlXW8AHExb9o6karm_9fF2qQxy6oPYbEbTQ2xWoltGLNVS0fWL0JhcNRhrS1FUdKQsnQ-uL9i-8D9zSChCBKGL0r-uFIDYtr3inBgb8FkyE5SWzaNBmu7O9aqySUiME7JPCp/s810/The%20Violin%20Conspiracy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="810" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQ4QU4BtX43f9RM-AMv759lOznXh1vjwMqCstoy_-_cAbOk1yFTWXy074NlXW8AHExb9o6karm_9fF2qQxy6oPYbEbTQ2xWoltGLNVS0fWL0JhcNRhrS1FUdKQsnQ-uL9i-8D9zSChCBKGL0r-uFIDYtr3inBgb8FkyE5SWzaNBmu7O9aqySUiME7JPCp/w400-h248/The%20Violin%20Conspiracy.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /> </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Brendan Slocumb is a
professional violinist and teacher, a black man who managed to build a solid
career in the extremely white field of classical music. He decided to try his
hand at writing, in order to open the world of his experience to a wider audience,
and, I think, he has generally succeeded with this book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Before getting into the
book itself, I wanted to note that less than two percent of professional
classical musicians are black, and probably lower than that for string
instruments. Classical music has been viewed as a white person’s art form for a
long time, although when I was a student, Chinese American, Japanese American,
and Korean American kids were the bulk of those I played with in young
orchestras (again, at least in the string section.) Black and Hispanic
classical musicians remain fairly rare, and are rarer the further up you
go. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">This perception of
classical music as a white art form tends to be self-perpetuating. Students who
don’t fit the “look” - and often the economic status as well - are not
consistently encouraged, and they do not see themselves represented that often.
The cycle continues. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As a white kid, I at
least looked the part, although our family was consistently lower income than
most - all those doctor’s kids had instruments costing four or five figures
while in elementary school, while I scraped along with a hundred dollar instrument. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For Slocumb - and his
protagonist, Ray - they started out on school rentals, and lacked the family
encouragement and assistance that made me the musician I am today. Both the
true story of Slocumb and the fictional story of Ray are inspiring, and I truly
hope that a generation of black musicians are encouraged by this book to pursue
their craft and join those of us making what I believe to be the most beautiful
music ever created. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Over the years, I have
had the privilege of playing with a number of fine African-American players,
and I can confirm that the stories that Slocumb tells in this book match the
stories I have heard from my colleagues over the years - including an incident
at a hotel that was very much like the book - our orchestra manager (a
conservative white woman, by the way) gave the hotel staff holy hell over the
incident, and made it clear that we didn’t do that shit. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">And the other stories -
getting crap from cops, being mistaken for a waiter at gigs, the stereotyping,
having to fight for respect at every level - Slocumb’s experience is
distressingly common and universal. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">So what is this book? It
probably is good to set some expectations. It is genre fiction - ostensibly a
mystery/thriller sort of book. The writing is mostly good, but there are some
clunky moments. I felt that the last bit, with Ray’s successful career, felt
like slathering it on a little thick. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The mystery itself
requires a bit of suspension of disbelief. The premise is meant to be
attention-grabbing: a black kid’s great-great-great-great grandfather’s old
violin turns out to be a Stradivarius. And certainly, selling a book about such
an instrument being stolen is easier than just a straight-up coming-of-age
story about a black violinist as he overcomes poverty, prejudice, and long odds
to become a brilliant success. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Which is kind of too bad,
because this <i>bildungsroman</i> hidden inside a mystery story is actually the
best part of the book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The ending, too, seemed a
bit obvious and a bit contrived. The problem (speaking as one raised on classic
British mysteries) is that there are too few suspects. The extremely limited
number of people who had the opportunity to steal the instrument means you
pretty much know the answer to the mystery from the beginning. I also found the
solution to be psychologically unconvincing - a person sociopathic enough
wouldn’t just appear seemingly out of nowhere like that, so I felt it didn’t
really “work” in light of the rest of the book. That’s my main quibble, and I
think it was the result of the mystery being the framing story - and selling
hook - for the main story, which is a different sort of book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Thus, the beginning and
the ending of the book were my least favorite parts. It is the middle, where
the author goes back and tells Ray’s story, that truly shines. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I also thought a few
moments were a little off - Ray’s search of a house seemed a bit illogical in
the places he looked that were too small to hide a violin. More than anything,
I think the fact that this is the author’s first book shows a bit. The writing
is a bit uneven in places, and usually when he is trying to tell the mystery
story rather than the musical story. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Many of the incidents in
the book actually happened to Slocumb. For example, the time he was unable to
get in to play a wedding because the host didn’t believe a black kid could be a
violinist. Or the arrest in Baton Rouge by a cop looking to harass black
motorists. Or the auditions where the judges openly used racial slurs. Or the
assumption that black violinists could only play jazz. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Oh, and also, his own
beloved violin was stolen in his senior year of high school. This violin makes
it into the story, by the way, as the replacement instrument Ray uses during
the Tchaikovsky Competition: a 1953 Eugene Lehman. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Also taken from real life
is his mentor and violin teacher Dr. Rachel Vetter Huang, who appears under a
different name in the book, and his grandmother, who keeps hers. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The prose in these
passages sounds more natural than the mystery passages. They feel more “real,”
undoubtedly because Slocumb is simply telling his own story, writing his own
life, and channelling the reality he knows best. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For a violinist, the book
has a lot of easter eggs. If you know, you know. Slocumb said in an interview
that he had to tone down some of the technical stuff so that normal readers
could understand it. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">There is also a LOT of
name-dropping. And by name-dropping, I don’t generally mean people (although
there are a few of those, and the joke about Ricardo Muti is delicious, subtle,
and unexpected.) What I mean is dropping the names of pieces of music. Slocumb
unashamedly talks about much of the standard repertoire of a classical
violinist, the pieces he loves, and the ones he isn’t as fond of, and all of
the technical demands and rewards of each. If you are, like me, a violinist,
this is fun stuff. If you aren’t really a classical fan, well, your mileage may
vary. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Conveniently, Slocumb put
together <a href="https://www.brendanslocumb.com/my-playlist"><span style="color: #1155cc;">a Spotify playlist for the book</span></a>, with 50 (!)
selections. There are some lesser-known gems in there, to be sure, in addition
to the works that literally played in my head while listening to the
book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I have done my best here
to avoid spoilers, but I do want to mention a few subplots that I thought were
fascinating. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">First is the way Ray’s
generally unsupportive family ends up seeing him as a source of money, once he
starts making it as a professional musician. This is a story that is all too
common. Certainly, you hear this about professional athletes. And not just African
Americans, not by a long shot. People who dismissed all the hard work and
commitment suddenly want to take credit when there is money involved. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Second is the subplot
involving the Marks family - the descendents of those who enslaved Ray’s
ancestor - and the source of the violin. They sue him, claiming it is a stolen
work of art. That area of law is beyond the scope of my knowledge, so I can’t
speak with any confidence on the legal aspect, but at least the idea of trying
to bankrupt a struggling artist with attorney fees until he caves sounds
plausible. As does the eventual resolution after a particularly brutal
description of the horrors of the enslavement of Ray’s ancestors comes to
light. (I believe this too was taken from historical descriptions, although it
isn’t clear if it came from Slocumb’s own family history.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">From the viewpoint of <i>cosmic</i>
justice, rather than our own legal system, which has never recognized the
obvious legal rights those enslaved (and their descendents) should have been
able to assert against those who enslaved them, the Marks family should have
owed Ray and his family millions of dollars for the labor they stole. Just like
<a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/letter-jourdon-anderson-freedman-writes-his-former-master"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Jourdon Anderson</span></a> should have gotten his own
back pay. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In any case, the sense of
entitlement the Marks’ have mirrors all too well the experience I have had in
talking to white Southerners. Not all, and I know some notable exceptions,
but…..let’s just say there is a noticeable pattern. And I do not mean to let
people from the North or West off the hook - plenty of racism to go around. But
the sense of entitlement - a belief they are owed <i>deference</i> from “those
people” - is pretty obvious. But always couched in that lugubrious politeness -
some of Slocumb’s best writing is in these passages. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Finally, all of the
passages about auditions, performances, rehearsals, and the competition -
that’s good stuff that any classical musician will recognize. Ray is world
class - Slocumb quipped that he is a bit jealous of Ray - and I am nowhere near
that stratosphere myself - but who hasn’t had a flop sweat over an audition? Or
had to deal with an arrogant player in youth orchestra? Or had a conductor who
took out his personal frustrations over his stalled career by denigrating a
guest artist? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">In this sense, Ray isn’t
“just” a black violinist - although he is that - his character feels familiar
to all of us who love the instrument and the music. (And who fan-boy on Hilary
Hahn like Ray does…) He is also a well-written character. We get his frustrations,
his failings, his triumphs - and we really do have to cheer him on when he
stands up for himself. A particularly great moment is when he tells the
concertmaster of a small regional orchestra “charity really is a bitch, isn’t
it?” echoing her complaints about the “charity” of having to have a black guest
artist. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I ended up starting the
audiobook on the way down to an LA Phil concert, because my hold came up right
at that point. Kind of interesting, although Mahler isn’t really a solo violin
composer - unless you count the 2nd movement of the 4th Symphony - tuned up a
full step. But classical nonetheless, and also the fact that Gustavo Dudamel is
an example of a musician of color who has risen to the top. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The audiobook is read by
J.D. Jackson, who is marvelous. He deserves his reputation as one of the best
audiobook artists of our time. I’m tempted to listen to one of the <a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-underground-railroad-by-colson.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Colson Whitehead</span></a> novels he has narrated, just
to hear him do it. (Although <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2016/11/zone-one-by-colson-whitehead.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Beresford Bennett was so good as well</span></a>…) </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For obvious reasons, I
think my musician friends will enjoy this one, but those who like a mystery, or
just want a look into a different world from a unique perspective, may want to
give this book a try. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-69759097049071538122024-01-19T11:05:00.000-08:002024-01-19T11:05:20.621-08:00Ordinary Psalms by Julia Levine<p></p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Source of book:
I own this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Last year, my
wife traveled to Davis, California, for a work-related conference. While there,
she visited a local bookstore, and decided to get this poetry collection for
me. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMyDujY5x22eUNVfkVEfKmZVPkOXBce3_EH6g1Mtt1sVRiOkvHl5VgeyHE03uw074IGEyOLwNY60o8gTRb96-88Pi-4B7E226XCx8vxYIBeM75AzHxQvTaUwlYrRchylvg1V25etqchwGX5Y2Hg17yDj8BtgYtvNv6Rb2dVdQ2ACZOL-0qTs3ITuR6wW0/s1000/Ordinary%20Psalms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnMyDujY5x22eUNVfkVEfKmZVPkOXBce3_EH6g1Mtt1sVRiOkvHl5VgeyHE03uw074IGEyOLwNY60o8gTRb96-88Pi-4B7E226XCx8vxYIBeM75AzHxQvTaUwlYrRchylvg1V25etqchwGX5Y2Hg17yDj8BtgYtvNv6Rb2dVdQ2ACZOL-0qTs3ITuR6wW0/s320/Ordinary%20Psalms.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Julia Levine
has local connections to Davis - she lives there and is currently the Poet
Laureate for that city. (Hey Bakersfield! Maybe you can do something like this,
and make the news for a <i>good</i> reason for a change…) Levine is also a
psychologist, and is currently using those skills along with her poetic skills
working with children and their concerns about climate change. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHndMYbIj6ewNG4jpAneEVy3T9vQGkYPxyrA_LGxHoCF67EK-MCjXVA3GC8oG-P5LqWPvVUBROLekyww1WEKsn3SFWfyyvG4hTuMk-ck8KnlZtfozDg2EpDXnecBkhIgU38GyKYFa-EBe42u1tIKN4gibVLQRfMqRczslWMbUZjHLMI8vpoZSRbmTUpHW/s1191/Julia-B-Levine.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1191" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHndMYbIj6ewNG4jpAneEVy3T9vQGkYPxyrA_LGxHoCF67EK-MCjXVA3GC8oG-P5LqWPvVUBROLekyww1WEKsn3SFWfyyvG4hTuMk-ck8KnlZtfozDg2EpDXnecBkhIgU38GyKYFa-EBe42u1tIKN4gibVLQRfMqRczslWMbUZjHLMI8vpoZSRbmTUpHW/s320/Julia-B-Levine.png" width="269" /></a></div><br /><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Ordinary Psalms</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
is Levine’s most recent collection, and has a lot of poems about loss and
grappling with her experiences in a world where God is, at best, silent. She is
slowly losing her vision due to a degenerative condition, and as a lover of
nature, this is a true loss. In another section, she writes about losing her
childhood friend to cancer. Another friend dies by suicide. </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The poems are
not downers, though - they feel real, visceral, and hopeful. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Since Levine
alludes to her own life a lot in the books, I looked up whatever interviews I
could find, and pieced together some of her own trauma. She grew up Jewish, but
it appears her family was of mixed religion. Her father, a surgeon, was
abusive. Her grandfather molested her. Her mother was mostly dissociated and
distant. I guess it should be no surprise that she went into psychology. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Like myself,
she was steeped in religion, and became quite familiar with the Hebrew
scriptures - they pervade many of the poems, and, indeed, the title itself is a
reference to the Psalms, which are also filled with lament and struggling with
injustice, pain, loss, and the silence of Heaven. For a reader like me, there
were many recognizable parallels connecting the writings of the distant past
with the present. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I wasn’t
entirely sure what to expect - I wasn’t familiar with Levine, and as in any
age, there is a lot of mediocre writing that will disappear with time. However,
I greatly enjoyed these poems. An unexpected treasure, one of the true
pleasures in life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There are a lot
of quotable lines within the poems - I will highlight a few of them, even
though lines are better in context - and quote a few poems in their entirety.
Because Levine is a living poet, I highly encourage <a href="https://lsupress.org/9780807174746/ordinary-psalms/"><span style="color: #1155cc;">buying the book</span></a> so she is able to benefit from
the beauty she has created for others to enjoy. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll also
mention that the book quotes a bit of <a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2021/03/evening-by-anna-akhmatova.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">Anna Akhmatova</span></a>, who I discovered a few years
ago. Here is the full poem:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A Land Not Mine (Anna Akhmatova)</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A land not mine, still</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">forever memorable,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the waters of its ocean</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">chill and fresh.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sand on the bottom whiter than chalk,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and the air drunk, like wine,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">late sun lays bare</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the rosy limbs of the pinetrees.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Sunset in the ethereal waves:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I cannot tell if the day</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is ending, or the world, or if</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the secret of secrets is inside me
again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">With that
gorgeous poem to set the mood, here is my favorite of Levine’s poems on her
blindness. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Psalm with Near Blindness</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">i.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The world mostly gone, I make it what I
want:<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>from the balcony, the morning a silver
robe of mist.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I make a reckless blessing of it—the
flaming,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>flowering spurge of the world, the wind</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the birds stir up as they flock and
sing.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Edges yes, the green lift and fall of
live oaks,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">something metal wheeling past,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and yet for every detail alive and
embodied—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the horses with their tails switching
back and forth,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>daylilies parting their lobes to heat—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I cannot stop asking, <i>Sparrow or
wren? Oak<br />
</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>or elm?</i> Because it matters</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">if the gray fox curled in sleep<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is a patch of dark along the fence line,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">or if the bush hung with fish kites<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is actually a wisteria in flower. Though</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">even before my retinas bled and scarred<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and bled again, I wanted everything</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">different, better. And then this
afternoon,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>out walking the meadow together,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">my husband bent to pick a bleeding
heart.<br />
Held it close as I needed</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to see its delicate lanterns,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the shaken light.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">ii.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Deer</i>, he says, our car stopped in
traffic.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And since I can’t see them, I ask, <i>Where?</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Between the oaks,</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">
he answers,<br />
and since I can’t see the between,<br />
I ask, <i>In
the dappling?
<br />
</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He takes my hand and points<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to the darkest stutter in the branches<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
and I see a shadow</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in the sight line of his hand, his arm,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>his blue shirt with its clean scent of
laundry,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">my hand shading my eyes from glare.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>There!</i> he says, and I can see<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
the dark flash of them<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
leaping over a fence (or is it reeds?),</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> one
a buck with his bony crown,<br />
and one a doe, and one
smaller, a fawn,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but by then it seems they’ve
disappeared<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and so I ask, <i>Gone?<br />
</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and he nods.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We’re moving again,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> and
so I let the inner become outer</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> become
pasture and Douglas firs<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with large herds of deer, elk, even bison,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> and just beyond view, a mountain lion</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">auburn red, like the one we saw years
before,<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hidden behind a grove of live oaks,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>listening.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I can feel her
loss so deeply. My own ocular aging is more benign, but as one who had
excellent vision for the first 45 years of my life, but who now requires
glasses to see up close, I too have experienced a lack of acuity that pains me.
I rely more and more on my camera to identify birds, and my kids see things I
no longer can like I used to. Thus is life, and I am grateful at least to have
been born in an era when glasses exist. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This next one
is one of my favorites from the book. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Night Psalm</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Beneath your arm like a fallen</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>branch
across my waist,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>the
nothing we know. In sleep</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in a dream of a forest, a windfall</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>of
leaves broken and rusting,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>I
walk beside the child</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am charged with</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>until
she quiets,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>takes
my hand. Now</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the moon rises as fixative</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>between
worlds. The city’s mute,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>the
call of night birds audible.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And feral, the self before words.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before
we name, we see.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Before
the part, the whole.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Soon it will return - the beginning</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>that
climbs over us as light,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>Unlocking
your good eyes, mine</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">nearly blind. Behind us</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
portals, the thin places,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>the
<i>I </i>before it remembers</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the loss that it depends on. Before</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>the
question can ask, love</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>in
this moment, the soundless</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">answers. The rose petals</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>last
night you swept into a bowl</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 2;"> </span>set
aside our bed to darken. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Levine appears
to have made a good marriage - her love for her husband and his gentle spirit
pervades the book, with little moments like that sprinkled throughout. Perhaps
poetry was a factor in her ability to break the trauma cycle. This next poem
explores that. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Antidote</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was there all along</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in the winter afternoons</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you lay in the boathouse</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">under the shadows of hoisted canoes,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">beside empty slips crisped in ice.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You were back-flat</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in loneliness, listening</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">for the approximations of god</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to come as deer</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">through white pines</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">at the property’s edge.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Juncos and chickadees on the crust</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">of snow. You imagined death</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">as a floating into music</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and happiness at the epicenter</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">where your mother was</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">no longer a broken promise,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">your father setting down</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">his belt,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">his spittled cussing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">But no, it was simpler,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">it was all morning coming down</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">as thick fields of snow </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">shaken over your boot prints</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">until your going was hidden,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and your body trembled with cold
- </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">then a presence</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">neither outside nor in, but both,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">knelt down close</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to ask you if you were ready to
survive.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">So many poems
have fantastic lines about mortality. Here are the ones that stood out to me.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">First is from
“Lost Wetlands Preserve.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">How hard to admit time </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">is simply the measure between</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">how we eat and are eaten - </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Or this one,
from “Psalm with Violent Interruptions.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Death is a plea bargain</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I made under threat of never being
born.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dang. And this,
from one of the laments about her friend’s death, “Anthropocene Psalm.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">When you are a kid, Mary once said to
me,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">forever is real. But lately I can feel
it again: forever.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And I thought of death pausing a
moment </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in the bodies of the living</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">while in the dead, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">it just goes on. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This next poem
contains another favorite line, but I think it needs to be read in
context. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Lamentation with the Detroit River</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Perhaps nothing was beautiful,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but still my sister and I returned</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to the current’s slag flushed</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">out of factories, and knelt there,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">poking sticks into its green syrup,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">daring each other to swim.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We knew something true</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">had been stolen from that river;</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">we wanted the wholeness of a thing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The world before the wound.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We wanted our bodies to enter</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the river’s clear run, the one before</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the auto industry arrived,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">then suddenly packed up and left</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">those kids from across the highway</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">living on muskrats and crabapples.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">We wanted a river that did not slip</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">past a row of homeless men</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">fishing from the bridge. That night</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I pulled my father’s Oldsmobile</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">off the road to get high,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a guttural outrage, plush with drink</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and sorrow, echoed off the steel
pilings.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">At its source, a ragged man, a fish</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">swinging from his pole—a huge catfish</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">or carp, it was too dark to know—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but I could see the glint off</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">its spinning. Even then I got it—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">his shock that the hook</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">had caught a grenade of turgid flesh.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s like the punchline of what is real</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">next to what you thought could be.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Or the rip current of my heart</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">pulling me under every time</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I imagine my mother as a little girl</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">before she turns mean. In that</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">tiny apartment, her father with</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a match to his pipe, inhales</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the flare into a parasol of smoke,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a cherry stink lifting above them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I can almost see her looking over</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">his shoulder at the photos</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in his Yiddish newspaper—</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">it’s a white bonfire of bones,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a drift of skulls heaped together.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s the Holocaust</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">before it has a name,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and the mark a moment makes,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the sinker of consequence cast,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the dead weight at the end of any line.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s who you believed you’d be</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">before the world dropped you</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">into the course of what’s been done,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and named the current <i>your life,</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">with no choice</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">except to ride that damn river down.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There is so
much I love about this poem. Her imagining her parents before trauma damaged
them (me too, me too), the juxtaposition of what could have been with what is.
Whether in the environmental damage done to the river, the damaged humans
fishing in it, her own parents, or her own life, she laments it. What might
have been. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">That last line,
though: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s who you believed you’d be</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">before the world dropped you</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">into the course of what’s been done,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and named the current <i>your life,</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">with no choice</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">except to ride that damn river down.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Just, wow. I
get chills from that line every time. And it is true. There is a lot of what I
dreamed my life might be, what I might be. Before the cult, before the loss of
opportunity to choose college and career, before the rejection of my wife by my
parents, before…And now I have no choice to go back - I have to just ride that
damn river down. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">As a contrast,
I loved this, um, nature poem. I generally love insects and find them
fascinating. But I loathe mosquitoes, for reasons. I am not thrilled with
flies. And alone of the amazing <i>hymenoptera</i> order, there are the striped
assholes known as yellow jackets. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Psalm with Yellow Jackets</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">They swarm gold behind the canoe,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">as we paddle deeper</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">into the lake’s dark chords.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">All of us impossibly old.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You and your brother cast out,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">reel in perch, as I press my stung hand</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">against a clear rock of ice</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you’ve set on the seat</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">beside me. The caught fish gleam</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and shudder. Once </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I thought loss was the poison,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">but now I see it akes us</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to what might be missed:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">water striders scribbling </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">across the reservoir’s surface,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a kingfisher high in a pine,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">stretching out her wings to dry.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The venom fires up</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and down my arm</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">until I remember enough</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">to know nothing</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and be amazed,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">as sunlight sears inside my hand,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">a slight wind riffing the water.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll end with
the final poem in the collection, one that reflects my own struggles over the
last decade or so in deconstructing and yet reconstructing a spiritual
connection that is felt, but not understood or understandable. The searching
for a connection to the mystery of what is, rather than an exercise in
tribalist hate, as it seems to be for so many. Levine also captures the feeling
of winter in the San Joaquin Valley here in California, where winter, not
spring, means the return of life. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">God</span></b><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You know that hour in winter</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">when the light is salted gauze</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and you stop a moment</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in one of the last untouched fields</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in this landlocked valley -</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the new grass a rain-fattened green,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">thick as uncombed hair.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Then the wild turkeys appear out of the
brush</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">in their dark pilgrim plumage</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and bowed heads</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">and fan out over the field, solemn</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">hunters of seed and grub.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This is the moment you need a prayer</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">from your animal self.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">You need to praise</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the black mud, the thickened air,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the pens of sheep in their black hoods
and wool.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">even the treacherous, untended road</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that ends at a flooded slough.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">On your old bicycle</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">with the jerry-rigged baskets and
duct-taped seat</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">you pedal hard against a wind</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">that has come up from the southwest</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">carrying rain. Wind that breathes</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">the least branch alive,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">wind that brings in the sea.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There you have
it, a lovely modern poetry collection by an author I just discovered. I hope
others enjoy it as much as I did. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4051826042602269061.post-85761812270195196482024-01-12T14:54:00.000-08:002024-01-12T14:54:23.993-08:00We Need New Stories by Nesrine Malik<p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Source of book: I own this<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are a number of books I have
read that, despite their small size, have packed a real punch. Some authors are
able to distill down ideas into concise and powerful discussions. A few I have
read lately that fall into that category are <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/10/reconstructing-gospel-by-jonathan.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Reconstructing the Gospel</span></i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span></a></span>by Jonathan
Wilson-Hartgrove and <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/08/race-monogamy-and-other-lies-they-told.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies
They Told You</span></i></a></span> by Augustin Fuentes. Those books, like this
one, lay bare the unspoken assumptions that underlie the power structures and
systemic oppression and injustice in our world. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Nesrine Malik tackles certain
myths that serve to bolster the power of dominant groups and undermine efforts
to create a more just world. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZWlIQt5ht2dxz1i1xrfx63NMw2-E7tPvjKP0yCqEGe9zOZM0C40-O2nij2FCLyt2VpxfqeQLGKlYSKXDGyTWQ1ryQCwvRr0_IFpB1StlIYNmu02X8j3FkP4zIiJYU-1Wbz0pHv6Qc403BCApazKo9C7hktp2_YCXPdmYAw41HWUMiVNZpGI3CbaxKqg1/s1920/We%20Need%20New%20Stories.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1920" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWZWlIQt5ht2dxz1i1xrfx63NMw2-E7tPvjKP0yCqEGe9zOZM0C40-O2nij2FCLyt2VpxfqeQLGKlYSKXDGyTWQ1ryQCwvRr0_IFpB1StlIYNmu02X8j3FkP4zIiJYU-1Wbz0pHv6Qc403BCApazKo9C7hktp2_YCXPdmYAw41HWUMiVNZpGI3CbaxKqg1/s320/We%20Need%20New%20Stories.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Let’s just say that every single
one of these myths is believed by my right wing acquaintances and family
members - indeed, these are their <i>deepest</i> beliefs, far deeper and far
more rooted than any religious beliefs they claim to hold. These myths are, I
would say, inseparable from their identity, just as they were for me for many
years. While religion is obviously not necessary for breaking the hold of these
myths, for me, my beliefs were instrumental in freeing me - I chose “love your
neighbor” instead, and when I did that, I was able to see that the myths were
in fact pernicious lies wielded as weapons by those in power.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The problem with basing your
worldview on myths like these is that the whole structure crumbles once even
one myth fails - something that is happening increasingly often these days,
particularly for younger people, as the myths serve to benefit fewer and fewer
people. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This book pulls no punches, and
accepts no deflections. Like the two books above, this book is now going on my
list of books I wish I could get my parents to read and understand, if their
minds and hearts were open to positive change. Unfortunately, that is not the
case at this time, and likely never will be. Other books on that list include <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2021/12/american-amnesia-how-war-on-government.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">American Amnesia</span></i></a></span>
by Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson, <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-way-we-never-were-by-stephanie.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The Way We Never Were</span></i></a></span>
by Stephanie Coontz, and <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2021/10/jesus-and-john-wayne-by-kristin-kobes.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Jesus and John Wayne</span></i></a></span>
by Kristen Kobes du Mez. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There are six myths in this book:
The Myth of the Reliable Narrator, The Myth of a Political Correctness Crisis,
the Myth of the Free Speech Crisis, The Myth of Harmful Identity Politics, The
Myth of National Exceptionalism, and The Myth of Gender Equality. I will try to
discuss each of these in turn. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">First, though, just a bit about
Malik. I first discovered her through one of her columns in <i>The Guardian</i>,
which is my current favorite source for British and European news and
commentary. I am a bit of an anglophile (note my reading choices which include
a lot of books by British authors), and I also believe that heritage that the
US and Britain share - particularly the roots of our legal systems - mean that
wisdom can be gained by seeing how we are alike and how we differ. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik was born in Sudan, and grew
up there and in Kenya, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. She got her undergraduate
degree in Egypt, then came to the UK for her post-graduate studies. Because of
the difficulties in our modern journalistic industry, particularly for women
and people of color, she spent a decade working a day job in private equity
alongside her writing. (She discusses this in the book, by the way - the way
that women and people of color are disproportionately expected to free-lance
rather than hold salaried jobs in journalism.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">All of this background gives Malik
a unique perspective on the issues she addresses - she isn’t just another white
male of a certain generation rattling on about how persecuted he is. (I could
name a LOT of names here.) She is a woman, she is black, she is an immigrant,
and she is a muslim. All of which have meant she has been targeted for online
abuse from the beginning of her career. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For a book of only 196 pages (plus
notes), <i>We Need New Stories</i> contains a tremendous amount of substance,
and is delightfully quotable. Malik is the kind of writer who seems to know the
perfect way to say things, simple, succinct, and powerful. I took a lot of
notes, so brace for a lot of quotes. And also, just buy the book and read it
yourself. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The prologue establishes the tone,
and also makes it clear that, while Malik will primarily talk about the UK and
the US, she is also going to point out the universality of these myths,
including in her native Sudan. She starts by talking about her family,
including their family myths. (Grandmother: “the house I grew up in was so big
tea got cold being carried from one end to the other.”)<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">I grew up in a household and culture swaddled in such myth.
The first, most important foundational story was of a Malik family rooted not
just in wealth, but in honor, grace, and quiet nobility of its women. It took a
long time for me to realize that this was a trick. If the women focused on
being comely and composed all the time, they would never focus on the fact that
they were deeply unhappy and limited in their freedoms. It took even longer for
me to recognize all the ways history, society, and family had leveraged this
flattering sense of relative superiority to ensure that we, as women, not only
did not question subordination, but competed at suffering it with perfect
self-composure. The cultural myths we believed in imbued us with such a sense
of exceptionalism that, even as our fortunes declined, we carried on with the
same belief in our supremacy. Never trying to understand why we weren’t
thriving, never even acknowledging that we weren’t…The myths had made us blind
to our faults. Blinded by entitlement, we never questioned ourselves. Even as
we gradually succumbed to bankruptcy, eviction, and public humiliation, the
family remained pugnacious and scornful of others.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">To a degree, my own family had
this. We were never rich (although my parents probably qualify these days,
thanks to Boomer privilege), but we certainly thought of ourselves as special.
One of the losses I have had over the last decade was the crumbling of my
conception of my parents and extended family. I thought we were better than
that, but we clearly weren’t: so many fell for Trump just like any other racist
white evangelical. Malik then talks about her “honeymoon period” after moving
to the UK, before she realized that all the same ills were there, just in
different manifestations. The same tribalism, the same misogyny, the same
carefully constructed economic system of injustice, just in new forms. And the
same myths. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Here were all the myths again, telling us that the West in
general - and Anglo-Americanism in particular - was special, imbued with some
essential virtue, and entitled to success and dominion over others, expecting
them as some kind of birthright. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">She really nails it in diagnosing
the root of the malaise in both countries, which she saw as culminating in
Trump, Brexit, and then Covid-19, where the US and Britain saw
disproportionately high death rates compared to pretty much everywhere
else. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The virus feasted on two countries whose governments had come
to power through victories in culture wars, then once in power, let the
machineries of state wither. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Indeed. The right wing in both
countries relies on the culture wars for its power, and intentionally starves
the parts of the government that would be able to respond to a pandemic. Just
one example: on the eve of Covid, my wife participated in a training by FEMA,
where they - first responders from a variety of professions - she is a nurse -
took on a mock scenario of a pandemic. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">At the FEMA facility in Alabama,
there is a wall where the mucky-mucks have their portraits displayed. At the
top was Trump and Pence. At the bottom was the person in charge of the FEMA
facility. In between, there were…..empty spaces. Why? Trump and the Republican
congress hadn’t bothered to fill those positions. They weren’t seen as
important. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">After all, Trump’s worldview is
that disease comes from immigrants, not germs. Which is why he botched the
response - keeping Chinese nationals out of the country, but allowing infected
Americans to return without screening. (I know this because a friend was abroad
when the virus hit, got infected, tested positive in Vietnam, told Customs this
when he arrived, and was completely ignored. Fortunately, because he is a nice
guy, he masked, and quarantined once he got home.) You could see more of this
with Trump’s focus on “closing the border” rather than masking, quarantines,
and vaccine mandates. You know, things that actually <i>work</i>. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik further notes that the myths
are the core problem. Trump and the Brexiters wield these myths to gain power,
not benefit the nation. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">A malignant thread has been running through Anglo-American
history, and it is made of myths. These are not myths that animate believers
into a shared sense of camaraderie and direction. They are myths that divide
and instill a sense of superiority over others. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Oh yes, that sense of superiority.
I will add that this is literally the core value of Evangelicalism these days,
and also a core value of Bill Gothard’s cult. We were <i>trained</i> in the art
of looking down on others quite explicitly in that cult, but our culture trains
us in more subtle ways. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For Malik, the various forms of
resistance to evil are secondary to the rejection of these myths. We need to
understand the context, the foundational lies that poison us, if we are to
fight effectively against authoritarianism and supremacy. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">My hope in this book is to tackle the ways in which history,
race, gender, and classical liberal values are being leveraged to halt any
disruption of a centuries-old hierarchy that is paying dividends for fewer and
fewer people. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Now, let’s jump into the first
myth, that of the Reliable Narrator. This is one that has taken me a long time
to see and understand. Our culture carefully protects this idea that there is
an objective perspective on things, and that this perspective is (in practice)
white, male, educated, and middle class. Malik recounts her experience in
journalism during the Trump election, which totally blindsided the media here
and in the UK. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And it isn’t just the media, it is
academia, the publishing world and more. It poisons every attempt to make a
better world.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">I start with this myth - the myth of the reliable narrator -
because it underpins all the rest. Unreliable narrators from academia, the
publishing world, and from the journalism industry have been a roadblock to
addressing structural inequality. They are the main conduits for communicating
all the other myths that prop up the establishment and defend it against
movements for change. We believe in their neutrality and thus do not question
the accounts of the world which they have recounted to us. These unreliable
narrators present themselves as free of bias, of identity, of politics. Their
moral and political miscalculations are not benign oversights or human error -
they are harmful lies. Unreliable narrators dictate the popular accounts of
mainstream history, how we talk about identity politics, and they give
intellectual cover to our politicians. The role such narrators play in stemming
the tide of change is paramount. We need new narrators to clear the path for
change.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Not coincidentally, this is why
the Ron DeSantises of the world are intent on book banning and banning entire
ways of thinking (“woke” “Critical Race Theory” etc) - new voices are indeed
challenging the myths, and those who benefit from the myths are losing their
shit. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Narrators of myths use tools, a set of argumentative
techniques that are tailored for each myth. Whenever marginalized groups ask
for meaningful social transformation, these narrators wield specific tools to
divert attention from grievances and discredit movements for equality.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This one is so true, and not just
in politics. In my own birth family, I have come to recognize the specific
tools used against me by my parents to divert attention away whenever I press
for change. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Another thing I have realized over
the last few years is just how far to the right the so-called “mainstream
media” actually is. For so many years as a kid, I was told that mainstream
media was “liberal,” but that only holds true in comparison to the increasingly
reactionary right. Mainstream media supports the status quo, kisses up to
power, and seems incapable of truthfully addressing systemic injustice. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik doesn’t believe this is
intentional - she thinks most of those involved have good intentions (Fox News
and its ilk excepted, of course) but simply have blind spots. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 40.5pt; margin-top: 0in;">The main problem is homogeneity. Politically, the
opinion-making class is overwhelmingly center, right of center, or right-wing.
Demographically, it is overwhelmingly white, male, and upper class. The result
is a worldview that is ideologically establishmentarian, unlikely to question
government sources, and overly respectful to the offices of power…Instead of
speaking truth to power, the media class speaks power’s truth. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This has had dire consequences,
and it is infuriating that the media still refuses to take responsibility for
its role in Trump and Brexit. Their malpractice was a key reason for these
disasters, and media continues to make the same fatal mistakes. Malik
specifically calls this out and notes that this is why representation is so
important. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">When journalists face no consequences for failing to do their
jobs, when they are too aligned with power, when their backgrounds and networks
insulate them from vast swaths of the population, myth reproduction becomes a
risk. Representation is the first solution to this monopoly of ignorance. We
need fewer white, male, and fewer affluent voices in the institutions that are
tasked with reflecting the world back to us. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So why did the media get Trump and
Brexit so wrong?<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">It is easy, in fact it was inevitable, that the media missed
the rise of white right-wing terrorism - those who were affected by it, and in
fact have been warning about it, are absent from its newsrooms and columns. Is
it a surprise that the Brexit vote happened when immigrants, so lacking in
positions of reporting and influence in the British media, could be presented
as a threat rather than an integrated part of Britain? Is it a surprise that
conversations about economic solutions to inequality are dominated by
scapegoating of immigrants, rather than an examination of the economic system
that created that inequality in the first place? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The media still continues to get
this wrong, even in its self-examination. The problem, supposedly, is that the
media is disconnected from “red state America.” That isn’t the main issue,
although it can be a problem. The problem is that the media is far <i>more</i>
disconnected from marginalized groups, and clueless about the problems actually
faced by them. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is how you get discussions
(and I have been part of so many) where the only argument is whether immigrants
are good for the US (generally, liberals) or bad for the US (generally, right
wingers) - missing altogether is the question of whether immigration is good
for immigrants, which should be every bit as important. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Apply this to literally every
political discussion, because the tool of deflection us wielded even by many
leftists. I was thinking a lot about this in relation to my broken relationship
with my father. A significant precipitating factor was some really obvious and
explicit racism, but on so many other issues, the question of whether those in
need of basic things like health insurance or housing should even be considered
kept arising. The voices of those with needs were never really welcome, just
the voices of those who do not wish for any taxation. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Because the voices of those in
need are absent, fruitful discussion remains impossible, and “we can’t talk
about politics anymore” as my dad said. No, we can’t, because without those
other voices, we will either just be airing our bigotries to the likeminded
(what my dad wanted) or someone like me was going to push back and call things
what they were, and that included calling racism, racism, and social Darwinism,
social Darwinism. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Next up is the Myth of a Political
Correctness Crisis. Hoo boy. The chapter starts off with a story that hits
really close to home for me, yet continues to recur. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A right-wing media source runs a
story about a girl being assaulted by a transgender girl in a school
bathroom. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Except, as it turns out, the
assault never happened. The incident was totally fabricated. (As it turns out,
there are far more assaults in public bathrooms by <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.complex.com/life/a/amanda-wicks/republican-legislators-arrested-for-bathroom-misconduct"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Republican politicians</span></a></span>.
It’s all projection…) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">These outright lies and
fabrications, however, are common. They keep happening. They aren’t retracted,
either. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik notes, however, that, as bad
as the defamation of transgender people and the stirring up of hate and fear
against them is, the real story is that these fabrications are being used for
another purpose:<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">What headlines were telegraphing was that there was a danger,
a threat to our well-being that is posed by the excessive <i>political
correctness</i> of institutions. For the purposes of this chapter, political
correctness, or being “PC,” is defined as the attempt (just the attempt) to
create a framework of equal treatment, of opportunity, and of respect for
all. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">[Note: this came out before Ron
DeSantis’ lawyer defined “woke” for us. “The belief that there is systemic
injustice and the need to do something about it.” Which is literally what Malik
is talking about here.] <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The deflection here is pretty
obvious: rather than talk about the legitimate persecution of transgender
people by bigots, now we talk about why the school was wrong to try to give a
student a safe place to pee. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I won’t repeat it here, but Malik
goes through the history of “political correctness” as a term with a useful
meaning, before it was co-opted by the Right to use as an epithet. A similar
thing happened to “woke” and “virtue signaling” - all of which are used by the
Right to discredit attempts to address injustice. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Today, alongside “woke” as a derivative insult of PC sits
“virtue signaling” (i.e. motivated by showing off one’s correct politics) as a
criticism. But I can tell you from personal experience that these words and
phrases are also <i>dog whistles</i>. I didn’t quite understand why I, as
opposed to others of different backgrounds, was accused of these things.
Relatively little of my writing is on race and identity, but it is assumed that
I am a race grifter, someone who pretends to be discriminated against for
money. The same is assumed of other writers and journalists of color whenever
they make the most rudimentary of noises about inequality. The point of these
accusations is to portray people of color as essentially immoral and
talentless, so they must advance their careers and cases by claiming
victimhood.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">One of the things Trump did is
bring this out into the open. It isn’t just dog whistles anymore, but looking
back, yeah, pretty much every right winger I know used these terms this
way. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">While I am sure I have experienced
far less of this than Malik, I did want to mention that the last time my father
and I had any communication, he accused me of “virtue signaling.” This was,
among other things, a solid indication that he was back on the drug of Fox News
and other right-wing agitators, because it was never a term he used before it
became a thing on the Right. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But also, it was in direct
response for my calling him out on nazi-level racism - calling the existence of
other ethnic groups in our country a “problem” that he was glad Trump was
“finally doing something about.” Even a <i>rudimentary</i> pushback against
bigotry gets the deflection of “you’re just being politically correct.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This of course was Trump’s whole
appeal. He railed against “political correctness” - red meat to his followers
who don’t want to have to actually manage their speech and behavior to take
into account the feelings of other people. Which is literally something all of
us do every day to function in society. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 40.5pt; margin-top: 0in;">Trump was right. The country didn’t have “time” for
political correctness. The impatience and frustration in not having time is a
reaction to the demands made on people to be decent, to respect their fellow
citizens, to put in the effort and the <i>time</i> to learn how to treat others
with dignity. It is a rejection of that expectation. A stamping of the foot.
Others should remain othered. They should remain in their place and not presume
that they have the right to change how Americans talk, think, or behave. There
is an implicit anger of insult in not having time for political correctness,
perhaps even of humiliation. Those who reject political correctness with such
vehemence are reasserting their status in a country where their status has been
a given for far too long. Political Correctness to the PC rebels is a threat, a
window into the future where their failures and inadequacies will no longer be
neutralized by their privileges. And so, the rebels dismiss and smear those who
demand that they give up their unearned equity. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik goes on to look at the Covid
response in light of this, because they are connected. After all, why would
people reject basic public health measures in ways that harmed themselves as
well as others? It is the same tantrum, the idea that <i>they</i> should have
to consider others. This has spilled into anti-vaccine agitation now as well -
my parents have gone all-in on the anti-vaxx hysteria (more like testeria…) and
conspiracy theories. It is toxic fruit the whole way down. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The myth of a political correctness crisis serves many
purposes. It dampens efforts for change by repackaging these efforts as
assaults. It gives people license to disrespect rational guidance and behave
selfishly in social crises such as pandemics. But its most valuable purpose is
its moral shield, a get-out-of-jail card for those who hold intolerant views
but who do not wish to be held accountable for those views, or even to feel bad
for them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">This is why “you can’t say anything anymore” is such a
frequently deployed defense by those who make prejudiced statements. Their
argument is not that their opinions are bigoted, it’s that they have been
wrongly stigmatized. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And that really is why I can’t
talk with my dad about politics. For perhaps the first time in his life,
someone refused to coddle his privilege and called him out, and he ended the
relationship with his firstborn child over it, citing “virtue signaling” as the
reason. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Honestly, this is a weapon that
has been used against me since my teen years. Any pushback, and it becomes
about me being mean, not the underlying issue. I see the same thing in lost
relationships with right wing former friends too. The minute I push back on the
bigotry, I get accused of political correctness, or not saying things nicely
enough. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The book quotes Ed Kilgore from
the <i>Intelligencer</i> blog, who noted that the continued wins of the hardest
of the hard right as showing that Trump’s base - and arguably GOP voters
generally are “motivated above all by the desire to go back to the wonderful
days when a white man could without repercussions tell a racist joke, ‘tease’
women about their physical appearance or sexual morals, and mock people who in
some way (say, a disability) differ from one’s own self. At some point we may
all come to understand that it’s not (except in some scattered college campuses)
the politically correct who are imposing speech norms on the rest of us, but
the politically incorrect who won’t be happy until offending the less powerful
is again recognized as among the principal Rights of Man.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Polly Toynbee (another <i>Guardian</i>
writer) noted that the myth of a political correctness crisis is “coded” cover
for those who “still want to say Paki, spastic, or queer.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">EXACTLY. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The “you are just virtue
signaling” was one hundred percent cover for “I want to be able to dehumanize
minorities and immigrants without consequences.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The next chapter is on the Myth of
the Free Speech Crisis. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I found this one to be
fascinating, and also one that made me rethink how I think about speech. It is
easy as a cishet white male to lean toward “free speech absolutism” without
thinking it through. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">First, of course, there have
always been limitations on free speech - we lawyers studied this. You can’t
falsely advertise your product (at least unless it is a “nutritional
supplement”), you can’t yell “fire” in a crowded theater, you can’t use
“fighting words,” and you can’t tell deliberate and harmful lies about someone
else. These limitations are <i>necessary</i> for a society to function. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And those are just the legal
restrictions. There are also - and always have been - socially policed
restrictions. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik starts off with describing
her experience as a writer in the internet age. She, like many women and
minorities who write, find themselves on the receiving end of hateful and
vicious abuse. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Over the past ten years, many platforms in the press and
social media have had to grapple with the challenges of managing users with
increasingly sharp and offensive tones while maintaining enough space for
maximum expression, feedback, and interaction. Speech has never been more free,
or less mediated. Anyone with internet access can create a profile and write,
tweet, blog, or comment, with little vetting and no hurdle of technological
skill. But the primary losers in this growth of expression, have been women,
minorities, and LGBTQ+ people. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">She also mentions the tangible
threats of violence and stalking which are directed primarily at women. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And guess what the response has
been? Well, to complain loudly whenever a bigoted, hateful voice is given even
the slightest consequence. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The cause of this, it is claimed, is a liberal
totalitarianism that is the result of intolerance and thin skin. This tyranny
is allegedly fascist in its brutal inclinations to silence the individual while
acting as a refuge for the weak, the easily wounded, and the coddled. Instead
of reckoning with the rise in online abuse, hate speech, and hate crimes
against minorities and women, we spend much of our time panicking about a
fictional cancel culture that in many cases is just “consequence culture.”<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I bet you can see where this is
going…<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">This is the myth of the free speech crisis. It is an
extension of the political correctness myth but is a recent mutation more
specifically linked to efforts or impulses to normalize hate speech or shut
down legitimate responses to it. The purpose of the myth is not to secure
freedom of speech, that is, the right to express one’s opinions without
censorship, restraint, or legal penalty. The purpose is to secure the license
to speak with impunity; not freedom of expression, but rather freedom from the
consequences of that expression. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik argues that speech should be
free, but not absolute, which is a distinction that bigoted asshats like Elon
Musk appreciate. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Free speech, like public dress codes, is not an abstract
notion, it has a purpose; it is a regulator of interaction, rather than an end
in itself. It sets specific parameters.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">In its most pure form freedom of speech serves two purposes:
protection from state prosecution when challenging authority or orthodoxy; and
the protection of fellow citizens from the damaging consequences of absolute -
completely, legally unregulated - speech such as slander. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">My freedom ends where it impinges
on yours. And you have a right to be free from abuse and denigration. This is
what is meant by fighting words, by the way. This wasn’t controversial when
applied only to white men. It is only now that women and minorities have
insisted on the same freedom from abuse that it has become a “free speech”
panic. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik discusses Milo Yiannopoulos
and his fall from popularity. Notably, it was fine for him to abuse and even
doxx women and minorities. But he crossed the line and finally lost his
publishing contract when he advocated for pederasty. That should say a lot
about the <i>real </i>values of our society, shouldn’t it? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">This is the dirty secret about freedom of speech; rather than
being an ideal, it is a litmus test of a society’s prejudices. Milo’s case
proves that, very bluntly, many saw the harassment of women and people of color
as inoffensive, or at least as an opinion that can be tolerated, and, where his
publisher was concerned, an opinion that could be sold. When Roxane Gay says
the red line was breached when it “hit too close to home,” this is not just a
turn of phrase. “Home” in this scenario is anything that the powerful forces in
a society consider to be their own. The sexual exploitation of children is
something anyone can abhor, but other races, religions, sexual orientations are
just that - “other,” not “home” - and so are fair game. That is the honest appraisal
of why people like Milo are indulged, and not because of any cant about freedom
of speech. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I appreciate how Malik frames the
discussion, the way we should be discussing speech issues. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The first question when any freedom of speech issue comes up
shouldn’t be about whether speech is being restricted, it should be about who
has the most power. Is it the speaker, or the spoken about? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">…<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The problem with the marketplace of ideas theory (as with all
“invisible hand” theories) is that it doesn’t account for a world in which the
market is skewed and not all ideas receive equal representation, because the
market has monopolies and cartels. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">…<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Claims about the free speech crisis entirely omit the element
of power. We are told that power lies with some abstract “mob” of marginalized
identities and their smooth-tongued allies. But where does the real power lie?
Who gets to make legislation about speech? Who gets to enforce it? Who gets to
benefit from it and who has the profile and the platforms to wield it? A
general rule of thumb when you are trying to figure out who has the power in
any given free speech situation is to identify which party is the most vocal
about being silenced. Chances are, they have the most power. The media
landscape is so skewed that those you can hear complaining about being silenced
are, by definition, those who have the access to enough platforms to make that
noise. What they are really saying is <i>My views, which I am expressing here,
are not as universally accepted as they were before, and that’s just not good
enough.</i><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Indeed. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Freedom of speech is not a neutral, fixed concept, uncolored
by societal prejudice. The belief that it is some absolute untainted hallmark
of civilization is linked to self-serving exceptionalism, a delusion that there
is a basic template around which there is a consensus uniformed by biases. The
recent history of fighting for freedom of speech has gone from noble, striving
for the right to publish works that offend people’s sexual or religious prudery
and speaking up against the values leveraged by the powerful to maintain
control, to attacking the weak and persecuted. The effort has evolved from
challenging upward to punching downward.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This too, by the way, is at the
heart of local disputes over Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. A handful of
far-right professors, in addition to making <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.bakersfield.com/columnists/jose-gaspar-bc-lays-out-its-case-for-firing-history-professor-matthew-garrett/article_0623b1e6-d894-11ed-8ff6-ebdc4ba12665.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">false accusations</span></a></span>
against their more centrist or liberal colleagues, have claimed “free speech”
for things such as throwing the <i>Seig heil </i>in class, claiming minorities
are inherently inferior, and promoting the “curse of Ham” as a legitimate
justification for slavery. (My own kid’s experience in that class from hell.)
It’s all about punching downward, reanimating all the old bigotries and justifying
all the old hierarchies. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This naturally leads into the next
chapter, The Myth of Harmful Identity Politics. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is another one that I have
heard for years from my right-wing friends and family. “Everything is being
ruined by identity politics.” Which is, as Malik points out, bullshit. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik points out the obvious: the
biggest and most powerful identity politics group is….white identity politics.
I mean, that is literally Trumpism, but it dates back a lot further than
that. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">How else do you justify enslaving
people based on their skin color? How else do you justify segregation? How else
do you justify the 150-year history of openly racist immigration laws? (Chinese
Exclusion Act, anyone?) Likewise, right now, the biggest terrorist threat is
that of white right-wing terrorism. (That’s not just me: that’s the official
statement from the FBI.) The bottom line is that there is indeed white identity
politics, and it is the single biggest driver of politics in this
country. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">But somehow, the idea of a widely practiced white identity
politics which is hostile and aggressive is not an established part of the
modern political discourse. Even when white identity politics is manifested in
coordinated violent acts its threat is minimized as the work of lone wolves and
bad apples. A strange oversight, considering that exclusionary white identity
politics has been a cornerstone of domestic and overseas American politics for
the last two centuries. Other identity-based political movements such as the
Black Lives Matter movement ask merely for equal treatment, yet they are
swiftly defined as identity-driven and are roundly condemned and pathologized.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">This double standard is applied to all political activity
that is based on racial identity. There is a lacuna, a color blindness so to
speak, to acts of politics committed by white people, or in the name of
whiteness, as compared to those committed in reaction to the wielding of that
white power. This is the myth of harmful identity politics: that group behavior
to secure rights denied on racial grounds is corrosive, restricted to
non-majority white groups, and is offensive, rather than defensive. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The harmful identity politics myth creates an <i>exception
for whiteness</i>, promotes racial entitlement via dog whistling - <i>the wink</i>
- and <i>grievance flipping</i>, and is sustained by appeals to <i>universalism</i>.
Constant denial that race is relevant to how white populations behave
politically helps prop up the myth that only other races are motivated by
identity. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik draws the distinction
between two kinds of identity politics. There is “defensive” identity politics
- the effort to secure rights denied on the basis of identity. And there is
“offensive” or “aggressive” identity politics - seeking domination based on
identity.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Easy enough to see the difference
here. Jim Crow was aggressive identity politics - whites dominating blacks on
the basis of color. The Civil Rights Movement was defensive identity politics -
seeking equal access to society regardless of color. Once you start to see it,
you can’t unsee it. Same thing for feminism versus anti-feminism, same for
LGBTQ rights. This next passage really hit home for me. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Critics see defensive identity politics as a disruptive
influence that divides the electorate. Implicit in this critique is some notion
that the group seeking change is being disruptive for no reason - and the
rational reaction to this kind of violent disruption is to support a
law-and-order or populist candidate. But defensive identity politics is in fact
a reflexive movement that is responding to both the constant subordination of
the non-mainstream identity and the recent, aggressive pushback against equality.
It is a response against the dominance and ubiquity of a white identity. As
Hannah Arendt wrote: “If one is attacked as a Jew, one must defend oneself as a
Jew.” When you are attacked and threatened because of your identity, you
respond in terms of your identity.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The implications of this go beyond
American domestic politics. At the macro end, it can be applied to many
conflicts around the world, most recently perhaps in the endless unrest in
Palestine. The answer clearly isn’t “more force” because that has continually
failed to work for decades. “More justice” is the answer, just like it is here
in America when it comes to racial unrest. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">On the micro end of things, I
think this is something a lot of parents (definitely mine) fail to understand.
A child, adult or otherwise, doesn’t tend to lash out and cause unpleasantness
just because they want to be disruptive for no reason. Maybe a toddler needs a
nap. Or maybe an adult child protests because of actual mistreatment or
favoritism. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The book clearly lays out another
core believe undergirding this belief. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 40.5pt; margin-top: 0in;">Crucial to the pathologizing of non-white identity
politics is the belief that whiteness is the default. So much of mythology is
due to this defaulting of certain identities - being white, a certain sort of
masculine, hailing from a certain class, and being a specific form of straight
- as base case, neutral, unmotivated by anything as vulgar as color or gender.
The assumption that these identities are simply standard and correct, rather
than merely powerful, underpins the need to create myths. These myths continue
to approach resistance to this defaulting as a revolt against the natural order
of things, rather than an attempt at correction. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This belief in a default is
inseparable from a belief that one deserves special privileges. Again, Malik
pulls no punches. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">“White vulnerability” and “racial resentment” are in
themselves euphemisms - political correctness is sometimes not a myth, you see,
when it comes to refusing to call prejudices what they actually are. Both terms
imply that Trump voters’ motivation was legitimate and understandable - these
people were just vulnerable and resentful. “Racial entitlement” would be a more
accurate and less unnecessarily forgiving descriptor. White people who do not
want to share the equity they have in society will view demands for more social
or economic capital by other racial groups as an encroachment on what
rightfully belongs to white people. And so, they vote for candidates who
promise them protection of that racial equity. White entitlement is not about
economics, it’s about status. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Saying this out loud earns you a
rather vicious reaction. Calling someone racist is worse than actually <i>being</i>
racist, after all. Calling it what it is shatters the denialism. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">White, aggressive identity politics is maintained by nailing
this implausibility and promoting an agenda of restoring national and racial
purity, without making this aim explicit. Such identity politics can only
attain mainstream traction by sustaining deniability about fundamentally racist
goals. The purpose, the sweet spot of this politics, is to achieve a state
where a white person can believe that they are good, while also believing that
discriminatory policies against non-white people are either acceptable or
non-existent. This moral absolution of racism while aggressively building and
maintaining racist systems is a duality that exists at the heart of
Anglo-American history. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is why Malik concludes that
not only is defensive identity politics not the problem, it is literally the
only way forward. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Next up, the Myth of National
Exceptionalism. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I was taught American
Exceptionalism from childhood. America was the greatest country in history, in
the world, and we were a universal blessing to the rest of the world. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This was, of course, horseshit on
a stick. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But notice that the Right Wing is
pushing this idea - this myth - ever harder. Why might that be? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik opens the chapter with a
pair of quotes that are so good, I have to repeat them.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent1;">“What we
choose to forget often reveals the limits of justice in our collective
imaginations. What we choose to memorialize reflects what we actually value.” ~
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.</span><span style="color: #4472c4; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent1;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #c00000;">“If you take down monuments to
evildoers, people will forget the dark parts of history, which is why nobody
knows who Hitler was.” ~ Philomena Cunk</span><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Worth pondering. The opening of
the chapter is also fire. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">There is no mainstream account of a country’s history that is
not a collective delusion. The present cannot be celebrated without the past
being edited. For the United States to believe in its American dream, in its
land of opportunity, where all men are equal before God and able to achieve
whatever they wish through toil and virtue, it cannot be acknowledged that it
was built on the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans
and Europe’s poor. If the United Kingdom is to have a sense of pride in its
contemporary self, there is no way it can be acknowledged that the country was
built on global expansion, resource extraction, and slavery. For Sudan, my
country of birth, to believe that it is a unique blend of African and Arab
tribes that have thrived by the River Nile for millennia, it cannot be
acknowledged that it has been engaged in ethnic warfare for the better part of
a century. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Every country has its airbrush. Some airbrushes are universal
banal fictions; others are central to a hubris that is internally corrosive and
externally predatory, feeding domestic division and global aggression. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And later:<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The whitewashing of the history of colonialism and slavery is
integral to the belief that there is something inherently noble about
ex-colonial Europe and the US. The myth of a virtuous origin is the strongest,
most corrosive myth of all. Nations fail to reflect on themselves when they
believe there is something special about them. Countries repeat disastrous
mistakes when they are convinced that their essence is fundamentally sound.
There is a straight line that runs from this belief and another: that there is
an essential moral superiority about a white race that has managed to create
material wealth by virtue of its own enterprise, rather than the leveraging of
poor and black labor both in their home countries and imported against their
will. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">How about another quote, this one
from one of the most evil men in history, one <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2021/09/born-crime-by-trevor-noah.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">viewed by black South Africans as
their version of Hitler</span></a></span>, namely Cecil Rhodes? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #548235; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #548235; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent6; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;">“In order to save the forty million inhabitants of the United
Kingdom from a bloody civil war, we colonial statesmen must acquire new lands
to settle the surplus population, to provide new markets for the goods produced
in the factories and mines. If you want to avoid civil war, you must become
imperialists.”</span><span style="color: #548235; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #548235; mso-style-textfill-fill-colortransforms: lumm=75000; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: accent6; mso-themecolor: accent6; mso-themeshade: 191;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Yep, that’s how you address the
social unrest from brutal inequality stemming from the industrial revolution.
Just go fuck some countries belonging to people of color up a bit to relieve
the pressure. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The US has its own imperialism, of
course. We didn’t magically come to use a grossly disproportionate amount of
the world’s resources. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The stress on individual liberty as the motor of American
exceptionalism only works if society is free and flat. The whole idea of
America does not work if slavery, both synthetic in the form of indebted
Europeans and actual free labor from Africa, becomes too central to the story.
Much like Donald Trump, America is not a self-made man, it is a country that
benefited from a trust fund gifted to it by cheap labor and exploitation, a
trust fund that created such low-margin wealth that its dividends are still being
distributed today. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If you wonder what the fights over
how we teach history are really about, there you go. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Speaking of myths we all learned,
do you remember the one about Americans spitting on returning soldiers from
Vietnam? Oh, you didn’t know that was a myth that never actually
happened? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In reality, anti-war activists and
organizations saw returning vets as victims of the war, and supported them. It
was the propaganda efforts of the Nixon administration that created the myth,
in order to deflect blame away from the <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/12/overthrow-by-stephen-kinzer.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">disastrous government policy </span></a></span>that
led us to an unwinnable war. If you actually look at the evidence, even the
anti-war cultural monuments that came later were not anti-soldier, but
anti-government, a crucial distinction. The trauma that so many Vietnam vets
experienced is better attributed to <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.dav.org/get-help-now/veteran-topics-resources/moral-injury/#:~:text=What%20is%20moral%20injury%3F,moral%20values%20or%20personal%20principles."><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">moral injury</span></a></span>,
the knowledge that they not only lost a war, but did evil in fighting it. If
you think about it, this is one reason our country has tended to abandon our
vets to homelessness, suicide, poverty, and self-medication. To truly take
responsibility would be to admit that we harmed them in furtherance of a
morally indefensible imperialist war. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">America’s education gap is a function of a wider state of
arrest. Unable to move on, to go through its own [reckoning], the country
remains stuck in a loop of recurring racism-related violence, a stubborn and
flourishing white supremacist movement, and bloody, pointless foreign
interventions in faraway places. Unable to face up to the sins of the past,
unable to atone and adjust for them, America’s belief in its historical virtue
is a near-perfect example of how, when taken too far, myths lead to self-harm.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik spends some time on the two
gulf wars as ways of distracting from domestic ills, but there is also an
unexpected anecdote. Something most of us have forgotten. Do you remember that
time Bill Clinton had an aspirin factory in Sudan bombed? I didn’t. And he did
it just after Monica Lewinsky’s testimony to a grand jury, although the World
Trade Center bombing was given as the reason. Gee, any connection? <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">[Note here: even though I haven’t
voted Republican in a long time, and particularly hate Trump and all he stands
for, I still hold a loathing for Bill Clinton. Which I think is justified,
despite a few good policies he enacted. He militarized the border with Mexico,
race baited as much as anyone of his era, and treated women like shit.] <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Anyway, Malik, as one born in
Sudan, and living there at the time, had an understandable reaction.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">It’s a hard lesson to forget. To feel the earth move beneath
your feet and know that your entire life and world are collateral damage, a
stage for a man far away, a man who was feeling helpless because of a bombing
that your country had nothing to do with, and cornered because he abused his
power by having an affair with a young intern, then was caught lying about it.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">So many other great lines too. It
is hard to select which ones to quote. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">America’s account of its history is a fiction that serves
only to uphold these irreconcilable contradictions between its perception of
itself and its reality - a nation built on domination abroad and structural
inequality at home. The call to make America great <i>again</i>, by voting in a
man who stands for none of its alleged values and embodies all of its
hypocrisies, is the inevitable culmination of that fiction. Americans continue
to pay a heavy price for these false beliefs, caught in a permanent state of
domestic discord and unnecessary wars. All the while romanticizing an era in
the past that was simpler, because the natives, either imported or invaded,
were less restive. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">That’s gold right there. The
history we were taught could not possibly explain our present. So we lie
harder, thinking we will get the result we crave. I could apply that to my
birth family as well. The lies my parents want to believe about us require forgetting
the damage caused by Gothard and Dobson and others, but the present fracturing
of our family could not be created by the mythological fantasy of what we were.
(Hence why it is all my fault, of course.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">There is the danger of reaching to the past to cast a
flattering light on the present - the nostalgia informs action and ideology.
The past is a simple place; it provides simple solutions to complex,
intractable problems. In a sense, there is no <i>again</i>, whatever the
country or people. There was never a moment in time where a specific culture
thrived because it had struck on some golden formula for prosperity and
equality. Whether it was the Islamic empire, the Ming dynasty, or the Roman
empire, none flourished without slavery, disenfranchisement, oppression of
women, and authoritarianism. Most civilizations are, in relative terms, more
advanced than the last in technology and law, but not more advanced in absolute
terms. What all civilizations share is a denial of the fact that empire-like
dominance is achieved at high costs to the less fortunate. America’s economic
strength today is another version of accomplishment secured at the expense of
the poorly paid, the uninsured, and those whose labor rights have been slowly
but relentlessly chipped away. There is no <i>again</i> for America, or any
other nation. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This problem of nostalgia, this
belief in a mythological golden age, infects not merely our politics. It
infects our religion, which fights scorched-earth culture wars in the name of
restoring the glorious past. It infects my birth family, many of whom still
believe that the key to godliness is a return to a hierarchical past. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Because this glorious past was
both mythical, and to the extent it ever existed, was built on the backs of the
oppressed, there is a constant need to deflect blame. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Doublethink is a strong feature of what is required to
sustain a myth. One of its main features is the ability to maintain a grievance
of humiliation that does not, however, dent a belief in self. The way to
sustain this contradictory state of defeat and superiority is to avoid
confronting the heart of the failure. And so, it is easier for a white American
to blame immigrants for their impoverishment than his own government’s economic
policies. It is a choice between “I am poor because I am unfortunate” - a
wretched state - “I am poor because of a rigged capitalist world order” - a
trapped state - and “I am poor because of others less deserving, external
governments, and politicians who are too weak to stand up for me” - a victim
state. In the last case, something can be done. You can’t change the fact of
capitalism, you can’t change the class and economic state you were born into.
But when you are a victim of the “other,” it’s not your fault. Your misfortune
is not a by-product of immutable political patterns, you have volition to
change the politicians who conspire against you, leave global treaties, kick
out foreigners, and be great again. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It is an uncomfortable discussion
to have about the past when it comes to past figures as well. I <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2017/09/christianity-and-culture-part-3-how-we.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">wrote a bit about this a while
back</span></a></span>, and Malik challenges my own thinking quite a bit. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It is so easy to say, “they were a
product of their time,” but that all too often misses something crucial. “They
thought what everyone thought” is just as myopic as the all-white newsroom. If
you think that “everyone” approved of slavery, you leave out the voices of the
enslaved, who very much didn’t approve. Those voices were just ignored. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The “it was a different time” fallacy is used to excuse all
sorts of bigotries both in the past and in the current day. It takes for
granted that there is always such total consensus around prejudice, that people
just couldn’t possibly have known that racism was wrong. It washes even less if
applied in the present. A small-town homophobe or racist grandparent cannot
claim ignorance: they are just choosing not to learn. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">That line: “choosing not to
learn.” Good god, that is the most accurate description of my parents over the
last 30ish years. It wasn’t that they “didn’t know any better.” I protested
loudly, softly, and however I could without getting punished too strongly. They
heard. They just refused and continue to refuse to learn. There is no excuse at
this point for their racism, for their insistence on the subordination of
women, for their rejection of their LGBTQ grandkids. They just refuse to
learn. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And where does all this take us?<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">One of the dangers of the myth of a virtuous origin is that
it drags everyone into balance-sheet thinking. History is not a story, despite
that being implied by the very word. It is not a narrative, not a discussion,
not a debate. It is a matter of facts. What is important is that they are
presented, rather than relitigated. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The final chapter is The Myth of
Gender Equality. And this one is a real sore point for me, for many reasons,
not least of which is the decade and a half battle my mom waged against my wife
over gender roles. (It ended when my wife chose to leave the field of battle
altogether.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Of all those caught on the sharp end of mythmaking, none is
told as quickly and as impatiently that they are asking for too much, for more
than they deserve, than a woman who is asking for her rights. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik was not, shall we say, great
at cosplaying gender roles. She was a constant source of frustration for her
parents, who weaponized religion, physical punishment, and threats of being
withdrawn from school in attempts to make her behave how they believed she
should.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Damn.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Yeah, that happened to me too,
Nesrine. And unlike you, a normal college education was withheld from me, in
part as a retaliation against my failure to be the kind of child they wanted.
And yes, this is more common for women than men. I’m a weird outlier. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">For my father, the problem was not that I could not be free
to be who I was, but that I could not embrace the freedom that only my
“natural” role in life could provide. The only way to find any peace was to
accept the norms of a society that I did not understand nor saw any logic to,
and to try to be really good at them. The only way was to give myself up and
excel at performing.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There you go, the expected role of
women in a patriarchal society. While I resonate with the “get better at
performing” thing - good god I had to pretend a lot to survive in my birth
family as a teen and young adult - the idea that only acceptance of the
“natural” role of women in society is acceptable, is definitely a gendered
thing. It is exactly what my mother demanded of my wife, and punished when my
wife refused.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This was discussed a lot in <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2022/08/race-monogamy-and-other-lies-they-told.html"><i><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Race, Monogamy and Other Lies</span></i></a></span>,
of course, but it is also discussed in this book: the lie that gender roles are
somehow “natural” and “biological” rather than cultural and power-based. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Complementarity is the belief that much of what women
complain about cannot be legislated away because it’s just human nature. The
shrugging default to the rules of biology is universal across cultures - almost
comfortingly so. To object to anything from forced marriage in Omdurman, Sudan,
to the ubiquity of sexual harassment in the workplace in the City of London is
to be met with this defense. And with it a demand that a woman makes the
biggest trade-off of all - to accept that inequality is a function of biology.
The only way to avoid the wild’s reddened tooth and claw is to never step
outside the bounds of nature’s purdah. Biology is our destiny. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">But of course, the history of this
shows that it is bullshit. Women couldn’t ride bicycles because the wombs would
fall out at that speed. (They don’t) Women can’t do [insert literally anything]
because they menstruate. [They can.] The list goes on. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik runs through some of the
modern neurobiological stupidity as well - or better yet, the way smoke and
mirrors are used to make studies “say” what they do not in fact say. A 2018
study, for example, purported to be able to determine a person’s sex from the
difference between their scores on “empathy” (already a fuzzy idea) and
systematizing - understanding rule-based systems. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">What the study ACTUALLY showed is
that these scores predicted autism pretty well, but NOT sex. Journalists, of
course, ran with the wrong lede. This is a problem that Malik notes throughout:
male-dominated journalism seems determined to somehow find biological reasons
for that gender imbalance. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">These are not reactionaries, provocateurs, or trolls. They
are mainstream journalists across the political divide. What they are
exhibiting is a typical response to the challenging of a deep-seated myth, that
biology is destiny, by resorting to deflection and hyperbole. If we are going
to stick with the obsessive commitment to biology as explainer for all
behavior, a helpful way to look at this phenomenon would be to see these people
less as thinking individuals with agency, but more as organisms on top of a
food chain reacting with instinctive self-preservation to what they perceive to
be an existential threat. Judge by biology always, and you will be judged by it
inevitably. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As Malik points out, any attempts
at change are deflected with “it used to be worse.” Which is not really a
defense. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">These setups develop, like sentient straw men defensively
scrambling to prevent any real discussion, in order to preserve the way things
are. A system of inequality must create its own illusion of justice, through
which it is sustained. It is a common impulse, not unique to any culture.
Setups are stabilizers, low-key propaganda that things simply are not that bad.
The starker and more graphic the injustice, the louder and more feverishly it
is normalized and excused.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The argument of progress can be used to mask the fact that
advances are always relative, rarely absolute. Just because things were worse
yesterday does not mean that they are ideal today or should not be improved
upon. The argument also ignored the reproduction of social and cultural norms
that continue to hold women back. When any complaint can be dismissed as
ungratefulness, it is impossible to secure any further wins.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is also used as a threat:
shut up or they will be worse. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A particularly interesting point
that Malik makes is that white people like to look down on places where there
are honor killings. But in our own countries, women are most likely to be
killed by intimate partners. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">If these are not considered honor killings, then no
uncomfortable examination needs to be conducted into what lies beneath. But
they are honor killings, in that they are committed in order to avenge a slight
to a man and restore the honor that a woman’s disobedient behavior has taken
away, because a woman is the property of her partner. The only difference
between Western and Eastern honor killings is that the latter are sometimes
perpetrated by extended male family members and sometimes mothers, but all that
tells us is that in Western societies a woman’s ownership has been transferred
from her family to her male partner. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is spot on. And yes, the only
difference is in how we view ownership - who is the true owner of a woman. (It
never is herself, of course.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I remember all too well a
conversation with my father - one that was later used as an example of “we
can’t talk politics anymore” - where he said straight up that feminism had
ruined everything. This is an example of the backlash against equality. “Sure,
things needed to change, but now they have Gone Too Far™.” In our family
context, of course, this was a bit of a passive-aggressive dig at my wife, who
was clearly a person ruined by feminism, or she would be staying at home full
time with the kids, and would be camping with me and the kids rather than
staying home (or working) on her own. Malik takes this one on as well. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">All myths assume challenges are overcorrections, but when it
comes to feminism, the “going too far” accusation has been the most consistent
and aggressive barrier to equality. Overcorrection is the assumption that
feminism will guilt society into creating another system of unfairness, one
which will steal from the industrious and deserving rich (men) and give to the
feckless poor (women). Ironically, implicit in this response is the concession
that a correction does need to be made. The system is so skewed in one party’s
favor that if there is an opening for change there is a risk of a
deluge…Feminism has been going too far from the very moment the first woman
asked for a basic right that a man had been afforded by birth. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Unfortunately, misogyny is so
widespread that it transcends pretty much every boundary line. You can find
nasty sexual harassers across the political spectrum, for example. And too many
men still assume housework is for women, meaning they should get special
rewards for doing some themselves. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">[M]isogyny has no politics, ideology, or religion. It is why
we constantly fail to make the connection between male violence and any
cultural or social norms that give men a sense of entitlement over women and
their sexual compliance, the “honor killings” that are so easily identifiable
in other cultures. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This too has been a source of
futile discussion with my former religious tribe and with my family. When
religious leaders (hello, Southern Baptist Convention) make keeping women out
of leadership roles a core value of the faith, it creates a cultural and social
norm where women’s voices can safely be disregarded, and their safety and
well-being ignored. Likewise for my birth family, where my wife’s voice was
considered irrelevant. These are not benign cultural preferences, but a way of
thinking about the value of women - or their lack of value - which directly
contributes to the continued inequality of the sexes in our society. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The book ends with a conclusion
chapter, which I think also serves as a manifesto for a better future. While
the main body of the book can be depressing - our world is nowhere close to
where it should be - Malik dares to envision a better one. We need more people
like that, not content to just perpetuate the injustices of the past or double
down on them, but eager to show that the myths are keeping <i>all</i> of us
back. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">First is a quote from Hanif
Kureishi, which I think encapsulates the message that my parents and their
generation of white retrogressives need to hear. And even if they don’t the
future is coming, despite their demands that progress stop. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color: #4472c4; mso-themecolor: accent1;">“No one
knows what a more democratic and inclusive culture would be like. It is
fatuously omniscient to assume it would be worse than what we already have. The
attempt of reactionaries to shut people down shows both fear and stupidity. But
it’s too late: they will be hearing from us.”</span><span style="color: #4472c4; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-themecolor: accent1;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Malik points out that patriarchy
hurts men too - they aren’t exactly thriving as a result of toxic masculinity,
between suicides, substance abuse, and gun violence. To say nothing of mental
health challenges directly related to walling off “feminine” emotions. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As I have noted elsewhere on this
blog, <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/07/dying-of-whiteness-by-jonathan-metzl.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">as have others</span></a></span>,
MAGA isn’t benefiting its supporters. There was an iconic moment (described by
the author) from 2019, when the Republican Party shut government down to…well,
their goals have never been particularly clear - they can’t even agree on them,
other than to throw a toddler tantrum and break their toys - when a Trump
supporter complained that Trump was hurting <i>her</i>, not “the people he
needs to be hurting.” <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Yep, that’s the MAGA political
goal in its purest form: to hurt “those people.” But that’s how myths work.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting. That in a
nutshell is the boomerang effect of the myth. If a political program is based
on empowering its supporters by appealing to their sense of superiority over
the marginalized, it will come for its own believers at some point. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Those who rail against “political
correctness” will find that they will be the next target of the Right Wing’s
insults. Alex Jones moved quickly from targeting minorities, women, and LGBTQ
people to making a career out of harassing the parents of kids murdered in mass
shootings. White identity politics are <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://fiddlrts.blogspot.com/2023/07/dying-of-whiteness-by-jonathan-metzl.html"><span style="color: #1155cc; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">literally killing MAGA supporters</span></a></span>.
We continue to involve ourselves in senseless foreign wars to make ourselves
feel powerful. And the list goes on. Ultimately, only the obscenely rich and
powerful benefit from the myths. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Myths are hierarchy stabilizers; they keep power structures
standing, creating the illusion of status by concentrating on relative status.
If attention can be maintained on how you are better off than someone below
you, it can be diverted from the fact that there is someone above you who is
either exploiting you or enjoying more unearned privileges than you. If
attention can be maintained on how those below you are coming for your
resources, then your eyes are fixed downward, never upward. By their very nature,
hierarchies only have one small group at the top. Believing in a myth is sort
of like taking part in a ponzi scheme. You are constantly being told that your
stake is accruing, sometimes you might even get a dividend, but ultimately only
the scheme owners make any real money. There is no real value created, the
scheme eventually collapses, and the money winners abscond with the
spoils. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">That really is the truth about
hierarchies and the myths that support them. It is the central lie that MAGA
tells its followers, it is the central lie that organized religion tells its
followers, it is the central lie that my existence challenged in my birth
family. And ultimately, challenging that central lie is what got Christ
murdered - and what he preached against. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And change is possible. We no
longer accept slavery as an acceptable part of life, and even the MAGA backlash
is a sign that the foundations of the myths are crumbling. Dagon has fallen on
his face, and his screaming followers scramble ever-harder to stand him up
again. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The myths that subvert freedom work hard to prevent change
from happening. They are powerful. But they are not all-powerful. They depend
on killing anger and suffocating the fire of justice denied. They work by
bamboozling you with all sorts of logic that makes you think maybe your
complaint is unreasonable. Maybe things aren’t that bad. Maybe there are other
priorities…[but] everything is important when you are fighting for
equality. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">And yes, this is going to make the
current cultural and political gatekeepers uncomfortable. (Just like it made my
parents uncomfortable.) <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">Some members of our intellectual elite are so steeped in the
fear of change, so wired by toxic myths that make them suspicious of
revolutionary movements that <i>they</i> do not lead or have a role in, that
they took one look at the largest global movement for equality in a generation,
and the only thing they saw was a threat to “open debate.” They looked at a
world where, rightly, hitherto immune editors finally faced the consequences
for irresponsible exercise of free speech that puts others’ lives at risk, and
the only thing they saw was a threat to the jobs of an anointed class of
narrators. They looked at a world where, for the first time, a large number of
people who had no way of reaching that anointed class of narrators finally
gained the digital means to feed their opinions back, and all they saw was a
baying mob. So effectively had grass roots movements, students, youth, and
identity activism been smeared over the years that instead of welcoming change,
our narrators fear it. The language of mythology, and its concepts and
classifications have become so widely distributed, so deeply entrenched in our
popular culture and discourse, that instead of freedom fighters, we see
vandals. Instead of moral courage, we see virtue signaling. Instead of kindness
and sensitivity to others, we see safetyism. Instead of accountability, we see
cancel culture. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It is easy to see why this
freakout is occurring too:<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The good news is that one of the reasons these myths are
strong and getting stronger is that the causes they are fighting are also
getting stronger. There are more of us fighting for freedom and equality. And
there are more of us in places where we have previously not been allowed. There
are more women, more people of color, more LGBTQ+ people in public life, and
more allies turning up for us. We are writing books, we are being elected, we
are filling newsrooms and boardrooms and swelling the streets of our cities
with protest and demand and a sense of ownership and entitlement that cannot be
undone. We are a threat to those who have always had an advantage over
us. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">The times they are a’changin’ -
and the older generations aren’t getting any younger. I feel deeply that,
although there are still plenty of younger racist assholes, they aren’t as
widespread (the research bears this out.) So much of the Culture Wars™ are also
a war against the young, against their ideas, their values, their demand that
they are as valuable as the older generations who have hoarded economic
privileged and then denied it to their grandchildren. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It saddens me that my parents’
generation seems willing to burn democracy and their grandchildren’s future to
the ground in order to cling to the illusion that they still have control of
the world and the narrative. Just like it saddens me that my parents threw me
away as soon as they lost control of our family narrative, when I stood up and
demanded public accountability for their behavior, and a change to our family
hierarchy. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I’ll end with Malik’s powerful
ending.<span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">The new stories we need to tell are not just the corrections
of old stories, they are visions, certainty that we have a choice, belief in
the fact that for societies to evolve and old order must change. We cannot pick
and choose the elements of progress that suit our own demographic or
preferences because that eventually breaks down the whole machine. We have to
be unapologetic about the reality that for civilizations to advance, their
societies and political processes must be updated and refreshed. Ways of life
that do not modify themselves to live up to their ideals will inevitably
disintegrate. The only way to preserve the good that exists in our societies
today is to allow it to wreck the bad. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">So let them mock our wokeness, our safe spaces, our trigger
warnings, our virtue signalling, and our cancel culture. Be strong in the
knowledge that all these smears come from a place of fear. Rest assured that
you are the latest in a long line of people who over the years have asked and
been denied but never gave up until they secured the rights you enjoy today.
Seek comfort in your allies in a movement for equality that is strong and large
and gentle with its members and resolute. Be confident in the belief that our
fight is necessary, that our goals are noble. Remind yourself, when the
counterinsurgency gets in your head, that what you seek is not retribution, but
justice, equality, freedom, and peace for all. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">We will get there. It will not be easy, and it will not
happen overnight. But one thing is certain as far as the keepers of the status
quo are concerned: it is already too late. They will be hearing from us. <span style="line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;"> </p>
Diary of an Autodidacthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11849157548643091986noreply@blogger.com0