Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue
Something/Someone Old
My Someone Old today is the poet James Wright.
It seems he's little remembered now, but I loved James Wright in college. Interestingly, I found that he and other poets I loved--Theodore Roethke, Gabriel Garcia Lorca, and Pablo Neruda--occupied a known tradition called "deep image" poetry, connected apparently to surrealism. I hadn't known that. I just, heh, knew what I liked.
James Wright was born in 1927 in an Ohio mill town; his father was an assembly-line worker, and he was, shall we say, preoccupied with making sure he never became one himself. He left before he turned twenty, and went to Kenyon College, where he graduated with honors in 1952. He went to Vienna on a Fulbright fellowship. When he returned to the States, he studied at the University of Washington with Roethke and Stanley Kunitz. That year, when he was still a graduate student, W. H. Auden selected his manuscript for publication in the Yale Younger Poets Series.
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/j_wright/bio.htm
That manuscript became his first book, The Green Wall.
It's pretty amazing when you count Theodore Roethke, W.H. Auden, and Robert Bly among your influences:
What he is best known for is his third book, The Branch Will Not Break, in which he moves from the traditions of formalism currently in vogue in the U.S. and embraces experimental free verse.
One of the poems that made me love him:
Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota
Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
Asleep on the black trunk,
blowing like a leaf in green shadow.
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
The cowbells follow one another
Into the distances of the afternoon.
To my right,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
The droppings of last year's horses
Blaze up into golden stones.
I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.
Something New
Meet Tuba Skinny, a new ragtime band hailing from New Orleans. I dig these guys!
Here they are playing Maple Leaf Rag:
This is Storyville Blues:
Something Borrowed
My Something Borrowed today is the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo.
Yojimbo (用心棒 Yōjinbō) is a 1961 jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It tells the story of a rōnin, portrayed by Toshiro Mifune, who arrives in a small town where competing crime lords vie for supremacy. The two bosses each try to hire the newcomer as a bodyguard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yojimbo_(film)
Why is this Borrowed? Because Sergio Leone (whose movies I love) took the story and turned it into A Fistful of Dollars:
Ah, the good old days when Clint Eastwood concentrated on acting rather than politics.
Something Blue
Today's Something Blue is the book Blue Highways, by William Least Heat Moon.
“A man who couldn't make things go right could at least go."
In 1978, after separating from his wife and losing his job as a teacher, Heat-Moon, 38 at the time, took an extended road trip in a circular route around the United States, sticking to only the "Blue Highways". He had coined the term to refer to small, forgotten, out-of-the-way roads connecting rural America (which were drawn in blue on the old style Rand McNally road atlas).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Highways
"On the old highway maps of America, the main routes were red and the back roads blue. Now even the colors are changing. But in those brevities just before dawn and a little after dusk – times neither day nor night – the old roads return to the sky some of its color. Then, in truth, they carry a mysterious cast of blue, and it’s that time when the pull of the blue highways is strongest ..."
It would be accurate to say that it's pain and failure that launch William Least Heat Moon on his travels. This is a time-honored and worthy way of salving a wound, at least in the United States and Canada. If you're in pain, move. Things may or may not be better where you go than where you were, but the process of moving is at least soothing, and sometimes healing. But Least Heat Moon has an additional, though related, motive revealed by his choice of route: he wishes to see, and write a record of, those parts of America that are least regarded.
“With a nearly desperate sense of isolation and a growing suspicion that I lived in an alien land, I took to the road in search of places where change did not mean ruin and where time and men and deeds connected.”
Least Heat Moon travels 13,000 miles in his van, which he names Ghost Dancing, in honor of the old indigenous rebirth ceremony. He has a few hundred dollars hidden in his van, twenty-six dollars in his pocket, and four gas credit cards.
This is a map of his route, with specific stops:
I highly recommend this book.
How are you all today?
Comments
Is that contemplative figure on a blue background
from a painting by Maxfield Parrish?
@lotlizard Yes, it's a 1926 painting
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
This should come as a surprise to no one.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCIPL0vI-U4]
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
This shouldn't surprise anyone either.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwEvRbdZVjY]
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
I've decided that Jeff Bezos is my personal nemesis.
Whenever something went wrong or missing in my home, my standard comment was, "Someone broke in and stole my comb (or whatever I can't find at that moment). Odd that someone would go to all the trouble of breaking in and take nothing but my comb but that's obviously what happened."
At some point, I decided that "someone" was Jeff Bezos. I don't remember why I switched. However, now, if a souffle falls or the disposer chews a fork, we all know whom to blame.
What can I say? Somehow, it works for us.
I still blame the gremlins
Something getting really old
The WV teachers union sold out the rank and file again. The deal media is hyping as a victory takes money from health care spending to pay for the 5% wage increase, which will be eaten up by increased health insurance costs. A victory only for the rulers, once again.
from WSWS article http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/03/07/west-m07.html
Why am I not surprised?
Here's another article from WSWS that ought to piss people off.
California Parents Punished for Being Homeless
With housing becoming increasingly difficult to afford, expect more infuriating cases like this.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Criminally punishing poverty
More hysteria if you ask me, of the David and Louise Turpin kind
Horrific details emerge as parents accused of holding 13 kids captive are charged with torture
idiocracy reaction to this story in January:They are in prison awaiting trial. I thought there might be a yuge media-generated backlash, but it turns out media likes home schoolers and hates public education teachers, same is it ever was. D-Funded by big donors.
peace
@QMS So did the teachers go
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@QMS I thought the teachers
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Yes, as of 1 am the union reps caved
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/wv-teachers-end-strike-at-signing-of...
@QMS Rank and file is who
Instead of pestering you, I'm gonna go read the article now.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@QMS OK, what I don't
This is not intended to downplay the very serious nature of defying both the government (your employer) and your own union leadership, or to minimize what the strikers were risking.
I just feel that once you start striking against the will of your union leaders--and in contravention of the disgusting Taft-Hartley Act--you've already crossed the Rubicon; no point in continuing to respect the will, or the decisions, of the official leadership.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
unreported power plays in the background
@QMS Speaking of
I really hope we're not back into the "send the gun thugs after the strikers" mode, but it wouldn't be surprising.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
"a bipartisan agreement" "sets up yet another task force"
I was mouthing this off in another comment:
Ergo, "You could set up another task force, instead of offering single payer."
peace
@eyo I think you're being
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Good day to all.
It looked like a half-moon in the early morning sky, with a planet hovering underneath and to the side a bit. We have a clear sky here and no rain for a change.
You have made me want to read William Least Heat-Moon. I have lived in small towns occasionally. They frighten me somewhat. I'll be interested to read his take on them, although I suspect things have changed for the worse due to our increasing lack of job opportunities in between the time of his travels and now.
The dog is persistently and naggingly asking to be taken out again so I will have to finish my comment later.
@randtntx Read him first, travel
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Possible Voter Purges in New York AGAIN
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrlysIZLtFA]
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
@The Aspie Corner Well, this isn't going to
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The USA does whatever it takes to sabotage anyone else’s success
The ultimate “dog in the manger”?
Divide and conquer — why does the U.S. hate peace?
Got the national defense blues
@QMS Wow, thank you so much
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@lotlizard True, though I think
On a side note, Stratfor should know all about this crap, since, as a company, they're up to their eyeballs in it. A small sampler of their activities, information on most of which derives from the Stratfor hack done by Jeremy Hammond. For those playing along at home, Barrett Brown was jailed for providing a hyperlink to the Stratfor hack material and suggesting that people online should read it.
This is all stuff I got just from Wikipedia:
Al Akhbar, citing internal emails from the Stratfor hack, reported former Blackwater director James F. Smith had a relationship with Stratfor and was for a time considered one of their major sources. Emails appeared to show that Smith participated in the murder of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and had more recently been assigned to aid the rebellion against the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. In relation to his assignment to Syria, Smith requested an intelligence overview of the Syrian opposition from his Stratfor briefers.[17]
Over 40,000 documents related with information gathering from Venezuela including the status of the army (equipment, numbers, plans) and other sensitive information were also released. Various attempts at overthrowing the government of Hugo Chavez are described from sources inside Venezuela, with references to names Such as Antonio Ledezma (Caracas mayor), Henrique Capriles (opposition leader), Leopoldo Lopez, Rafael Poleo (media tycoon). Many papers involve CANVAS, as one of the main strategic counsel. One of the documents is titled "how to guide to revolution".[18][19][20]
Business Insider reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was an intelligence source for Stratfor between 2007 and 2010. In emails, Fred Burton discussed his personal communications with Netanyahu. Burton stated by email that Netanyahu informed him of his success in consolidating power within the Likud party ahead of regaining the position of prime minister, shared thoughts regarding his distrust of US President Barack Obama, threatened assassination of Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, and declared intentions to unilaterally start a war against Iran.[16]
Some emails reveal that Stratfor had been partnering with Shea Morenz, a former Goldman Sachs director, along with other informants, in order to profit from what could be considered insider trading. Stratfor planned to use the intelligence it gathered in order to profit from trading in several worldwide markets. They created an offshore "share structure" known as "StratCap" during 2011, in order to avoid insider trading allegations. The offshore entity, set to launch operations in 2012, is outwardly independent of Stratfor, but CEO George Friedman told his employees that StratCap is secretly integrated with Stratfor.[7][8]
An email involving a Stratfor analyst stated that it had been determined that up to 12 officials in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency knew of Osama bin-Laden's safe house.[11] Another email indicated that Stratfor Vice President Fred Burton had knowledge of the killing of bin Laden, and that the body was not dumped at sea, but rather sent to Dover Air Force Base in the United States.[12] This further fueled doubts about the US Government's account of the killings.[13]
They also do great things inside the U.S:
Thomas Kavaler, who was once a lawyer for a Stratfor client, had his email address and the password to his Stratfor account released in the leak. He is married to Judge Preska, who denied Jeremy Hammond's bail; the hearing was held eight months into Hammond's imprisonment.[9]
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal By the way, it's
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
"Yojimbo" was itself borrowed
from the hard-boiled detective stylings of Dashiell Hammett, mainly Red Harvest. But Kurosawa, who was thoroughly familiar with Hollywood films, also lifted a scene or two directly from the 1942 film version of The Glass Key.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
@TheOtherMaven Thank you for that
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
cool info. Thank you!
Wow, 10 comments before 10 a.m.?
Good morning to you guys, too!
Can't wait to see what you have to say.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Love the ragtime band.
Music and dancing on the street corner. That is the best.
We watched the movie Cabaret this weekend with our houseguest. She had seen a production of Cabaret in New York with a totally different cast. We had fun comparing the two interpretations of the play which is based on the Christopher Isherwood novel, The Berlin Stories. What struck me was the confusion of the naive characters during the rise of the nazis in the pre-WWll era. I can draw parallels for our own era.
The poet you mention lived in post-WWll Vienna. Not directly after all the destruction and horror but still fresh in people's memories and lives. There are connections which I can't make right now. I hear sinister implications in this upbeat music:
@randtntx Thanks for letting me
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@randtntx I've never seen Cabaret,
May I heartily recommend this 1995 documentary, which did the good work before it was in fashion:
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
My Mother was in the habit
Of taking me to a lot of movies. I loved going with her but sometimes her choices were, er, a bit age inappropriate. Cabaret was one of them. I was 11 years old at the time and had a lot of questions afterwards.
[video:https://youtu.be/lxmz3RcNNBE]
Perhaps I might want to re-visit the movie again after all these years and get some of those questions answered.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Maple Leaf Rag dog for the win!
Thanks that made me LOL, the camera could not resist. That is how I like to hear music too, free on the street and buy a cd to listen at home why not? Cash, thank you very much. I like the people dancing too. I still dance every day, can't help it. Nice segue to the next vid, or so it looks by the snapshot. Cheers.
That free style poem blew what's left of my mind. heh
peace
@eyo I have seen street music
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@eyo I have more James Wright
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
City allays fears over herbicide/pesticide use
City allays fears over herbicide/pesticide use
yes please. I have wasted my life.First lesbian mayor, that is what identity politics buys ya around here. Extra chips 'cause she owns the one Employment Service in town, queen rentier gets a cut of all temp workers wages and keeps revolving around city government. Small town public private good old kill me now.
Boom! There it is, FEAR of good jobs because public pensions and nobody to tax. Not enough rich people around here I guess. Don't say Copolla, don't you Virginia Dare. unincorporated area wink
Cannabis dispensary proposals subject of public hearing
Whichever one is farthest from the herbicides sprayers that's what I say, cancer much? Shut uppa you face. Ranger Pro is cheap and good for you. Brawndo! They will approve two, neither of which I can afford. oh well
Got friends who only talk about themselves? They could be mentally ill, study shows
Oops, hahaha no kidding. Poetry in motion.
peace
What colors even a Hollywood movie
like Cabaret with a feeling of dread is this number. As feel-good as they like to make everything, at least they didn't edit this piece out:
Evoking powerful emotions
is the fuel that drives the kind of propaganda campaign needed to commit heinous war crimes.
I've been watching Babylon Berlin on Netflex and while it is ostensibly a crime drama set during the Weimar Republic, it also grittily depictes the desperation average Germans found themselves in post WWI, trying to find work, food, and a place to live. That kind of pervasive bleakness is ripe for emotional manipulation. Especially when it comes to you clothed in rousingly romantic songs about a better future sung by the apple of the country's youth.
My maternal Grandfather chose alcohol over songs about the Fatherland. Living in Hamburg during both World Wars, my Grandfather's first business collapsed during WWI. After that war, he tried to make a living as a carpenter while my Grandmother and my Aunt lived off whatever they could grow in the garden. WWII broke out shortly after my Mother was born and his second attempt to build a business collapsed as well. My Grandmothers only verbalized recollection of that time was that the entire family lived off potatoes for what seemed like an eternity, and that they were bombed out of 3 apartments.
The remainder of my Grandfather's life was marred by chronic health problems and depression. Everyone has a breaking point and I suppose living through two world wars was my Grandfathers.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
The movie
Anyway, I really like this movie, I think it resonates with our own predicament. I'm curious how we as a society will react to what I think are very similar circumstances.
I don't have any statistics
But I'd be very surprised to learn that the US economy was even close to resembling the economic collapse a vast population of German people experienced post WWI.
Although, I don't deny we are heading in a direction that is causing too many hardship among too many people with no improvement in sight.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Art can serve the function
Human nature
Does have some inexplicable predilections.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Yojimbo is on archive.org
Thank you for including free culture in your essays, my budget has zero dollars for streaming services. I like to respect copyright as much as possible, in the U.S. it is ridiculous how long we have to wait for corporations to squeeze every last penny. Thanks Disney and the Ds. Chris Dodd is another ex-DNC Chair btw. Corrupt to the core.
https://archive.org/details/YojimboAkiraKurosawaJapanClassic
peace
@eyo You're welcome. I
Usually, both the artists and the part of the public that can't pay a tidy sum for their experience of culture get the short end of the stick. To get something good done, you so often have to find tiny paths around giant obstacles:
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Thank you, CStMS! Tuba Skinny is very enjoyable. In the
first video, I love how nonchalant the dog is, amid the loud music! (Short hair don't care.)
In the second, the guy in the khaki trousers is too cool a dancer.
Kurosawa's films are so wonderful, they physically hurt. I didn't know about Fistful of Dollars, though. Now, I shall have to track it down.
Your open threads are wondrous. You're a one-person culture central!
I am exceptionally well today, thank you for asking. A natural high. I'm not sure why, but I am content to enjoy it, rather than analyzing it away. How are you?
@HenryAWallace I'm not doing bad. I
And wow, thank you so much for calling me a "one-person culture central." You might not know how high a compliment that is where I come from.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
I intended it as high praise.
Good morning all and thanks for the OT, CSTMS. This is
really wild to see so much up there so early while still coffeeing up after sleeping in. Thanks for Tuba Skinny and James Wright. Yojimbo is an old favorite (I have my own copy) as is Fistfull of Dollars (and much of Leone's ouvre).
I second the rec of Blue Highways. My wife and I both independently developed a penchant for side roads and back roads, indirect and even unknown routes, exploring, rambling and the like. When I first heard of the book I got it and devoured it. It is a great book, a great read, a great narrative and further inspiration.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
oh well, that makes me understand the compassionate
hate for Obama's words and arrogance expressed in them.
Listen: "Obama Screws South Side Chicago Residents Over Library"
[video:https://youtu.be/MJCp6wJZ970]
https://www.euronews.com/live