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Friday, August 31, 2007 - 23:13:03
Why don't we just call it Associate's Day?
Ah - a holiday weekend.
If it was Memorial Day, half the news broadcast would be spent on shots at the VA and a ceremony at the National Cemetery.
If it was Thanksgiving, we’d get stories about soup kitchens, returning soldiers, and pre-Christmas sales.
If it was Christmas, we’d get shots of returning soldiers and soup kitchens.
But this is Labor Day, and doing stories about working class issues might be a little awkward in a part of the country where news anchors genuflect as Wal-Mart press releases are treated like manna from Heaven. So instead we’ll have what we always have - hard-hitting stories about how folks amuse themselves on the Labor Day weekend.
Yee-haw!
Thursday, August 30, 2007 - 19:07:43
Mayor Koenig?
Is Jeff Koenig of the Fayetteville Economic Development Council considering a run for mayor of Fayetteville? When you run into three people in one day speculating about the matter, well, that could just be idle speculation.
Or maybe not . . .
Footsteps in the Dark
I wrote this for the alternative newspaper Grapevine in 1991, about the discoveries one could make about Fayetteville once the sun went down. Though it may seem a little dated, I hope that some people may be able to relate to it. Free Camman, mentioned at the end of the piece, was employed by the city of Fayetteville in the 1980s to play her violin to the flowers on the square at night.
Who wouldn't want to live in such a city?
After her death from cancer, a bench was placed on the square in her honor - till one day, it simply wasn’t there any more. And no one at the city level has suggested replacing it . . .
Footsteps in the Dark
"With all history to contradict us, it is hardly worthwhile to speak of city life as entailing ‘‘spiritual loss,' because it is out of touch with Nature. It is in touch with humanity, and humanity is Nature's heaviest asset." - Agnes Repplier, Times and Tendencies
I've always preferred bustling city streets over quiet country lanes; put me down alone in the middle of a rustic meadow and I'd go mad. For me, the most beautiful scene in Spike Lee's film Mo' Better Blues is when the lead character plays a mournful tune on his saxophone on the bridge over the city. If I could play the sax, that's what I would do.
Suffering as I do from frequent bouts of insomnia, I often find myself walking the dark streets of Fayetteville, long after the clubs have shut down, and most people have gone to bed. At this time of night the city's heart beats more calmly, undisturbed by traffic and the discordance of a thousand different emotional vibrations. The city sleeps, as much as any
city can, in preparation for the next day's onslaught, healing its wounds under cover of darkness.
The streets are peopled with ghosts, those spirits who represent Fayetteville's past.
My route (which I take several times a month) takes in the square, Dickson Street, the U of A campus, and assorted neighborhoods. Most of the time I am alone, though at times I may have a companion. Sometimes I see others out in the night, walking as I do; we pass on the sidewalk without exchanging greetings.
Even at night, Dickson Street is overshadowed by the shell of the Walton Arts Center. In almost twenty years of living in Fayetteville, I think that Dickson Street has changed the most. On foggy nights (if you look hard enough) the ghosts of past revelers can be seen on dimly lit street corners, shaking their heads in bemusement over the changes the years have wrought. Even the Dream Merchant is now known merely as The Merchant, half the size of its former self. On the day that the Arts Center officially opens, I think the name "Dickson Street" hould be retired, and the streetsigns all changed to reflect the new era. Tyson Boulevard, perhaps?
Occasionally, young skateboarders sail by, their faces grim and determined. There seems to be almost no joy in these night travelers. I find myself wondering about their parents. The number of homeless people on our streets has been increasing over the past few months. With the financial crunch the city is experiencing, can our charitable institutions handle the increased load?
Even after the clubs have shut down, a few cars may remain on the street. Some are empty, others contain couples kissing passionately. Some couples sit apart, their bitter voices sailing out into the night, to be caught by any passerby, if he'd only choose to listen. I always walk swiftly past them; I don't want to be a witness to someone's emotional pain.
At the top of Dickson Street, of course, is the University of Arkansas. I always like to walk around the campus when the sky is heavy with black thunderclouds and the wind bends the trees. I believe that if you stand in the open on a very windy night and whisper "I love you," the wind will carry your words back to the object of your desire. I've no hard evidence
to back this up, but some things you have to take on faith. I'd stake my heart on it.
On rare occasions I find myself near Wilson Park, the reputed sight of midnight drug deals, and where some meet to carry on their social life. A warm, friendly place in the sunlight, the dark plunders the humanity from Wilson Park. The sprites who inhabit the park's castle during the day retreat, and humpbacked; sharp-toothed gnomes with heavy eyelids stand at
each entrance, their invisible blades keeping the innocent from entering until daylight.
It is almost dawn when I wind up outside the Old Post Office restaurant, once again hearing Free Camman playing her violin to the plants on the square. Death stilled Free's song in mid-note, but her friends remember her still. Possibly the plants her music nurtured remember, as well, in their own fashion.
Finally, I return to my bed, my body surrendering to sleep. I know that when next I wander the streets of Fayetteville, the familiar ghosts will walk with me.
Grapevine, May 31, 1991
Wednesday, August 29, 2007 - 10:01:25
Say it ain't so, Blanche!
This was on one of the list serves I subscribe to, early this morning. "Miss Blanche" - as the faux Southern gentlemen of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette refer to her - should be ashamed of herself, if she really does intend to follow through with her plan. Shame or not, I suspect she'll go ahead.
Take Action: Stop Tyson's Dirty Water Bail-Out Bill!
Large livestock operations could soon be off the hook for dumping waste containing high levels of toxic metals, like arsenic and copper into ourdrinking water. A new amendment expected to be added to the Farm Bill by Sen. Blanche Lincoln would exempt these livestock operations from the federal polluter-pays law, allowing corporations like Tyson's, which has already polluted the drinking water of 22 communities in Oklahoma, to pass clean up costs to the ratepayers.
Stop the Tyson's Dirty Water Bail-Out Bill!
or if above doesn't work, http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=
TakeAction
******
Thinking about Owen Wilson's suicide attempt yesterday, and recalled this poem that we were taught in high school. I supect that most of us came across the poem in English class. You never know what personal demons haunt people, do you?
Richard Cory
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Edwin Arlington Robinson
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 12:08:52
I wonder how cheap the rents will be
On paper, the Fayetteville Cultural Arts District sounds like a grand idea. And yet, given the current administration’s seeming fondness for pretty things (and pretty people?) over working class issues, there has already been some concern raised over one particular paragraph in the article in Monday’s Northwest Arkansas Times (“Much of downtown falls within planned arts district’):
“Codes and ordinances that support part of the district, such as those that would facilitate artist housing in the neighborhood areas, might be different than codes and ordinances in other parts of the Cultural Arts District . . .”
What does that mean, exactly?
You’re an artist, you’ll like living in a hovel.”
“Trust me, air conditioning and running water are so middle-class. First and last moth’s rent, please.”
******
I see that I can now go online and read the blogs of television characters, as well as have them send messages to my cell phone. While it is true that I enjoy reading blogs, and often refer to them when writing articles, I really don’t have much of a desire to read the blogs of fictional characters.
Unless - what if most, if not all, bloggers are actually fictional? What if I . . .
No, best not go there. That way madness lies, as Shakespeare once wrote. Truer words were never written.
Monday, August 27, 2007 - 00:40:48
Critic makes annual attack on C.A.T. staff, producers, and supporters
Joey Dutton, a former employee of Community Access Television who once aspired to be manager, sends this sort of letter out once a year at this time. A lot of folks only see Comrade Dutton’s name attached to letters to the editor, or in quotes in newspaper articles. Fayetteville Aldermen see his more restrained letters.
Rarely seen are his occasional attacks on the CATProducer list serve, in which he demeans anyone who has the temerity to disagree with him. In the interests of fairness, I’m sure that Brother Joey wouldn’t mind his most recent public posting shared with a wider audience.
Full Disclosure: I am the Richard Drake he refers to in his latest letter.
Also in the interests of fairness, I have edited nothing from his post.
All signs point to the end of CAT by the end of 2007.
Will another organization replace it? Will the PEG Center be restructured? Dunno, but it might be wise for those who are truly 'progressive' to be thinking of how the people of Fayetteville could be better served once the Old Guard has been removed.
In the meantime, I think this would be a good time to repost something from awhile back. It is still quite accurate and relevant:
Are you a fundamentalist?
One of the major flaws of the CAT Organization and the small group of passionate people who support it is the fact they are tragically lacking in self awareness. Could it be, like with any cult, the members are so caught up in their own self-righteousness and back-slapping they don't realize they have become the very thing they despise: a body of fervent religious warriors defending their beloved
church?
Fact 1: CAT is a ministry just the same as a church. It has a mission,cabinet (board), clergy (staff), moral code (policies), dogma (1st Amendment), and a congregation (members).
Fact 2: The definitions of ministry in the Dictionary include:
a) a person or thing through which something is accomplished : Agency, INSTRUMENTALITY
b) the body of ministers governing a nation or state from which a smaller cabinet is sometimes selected
c) the group of ministers constituting a cabinet
d) a government department presided over by a minister
e) the building in which the business of a ministry is transacted In a very literal sense of the word, CAT is a MINISTRY. It is a church. It's hard core supporters are 'fundamentalists' who embrace a morality and preach with religious fervor their dogma which is, in this case, their particular interpretation of the 1st Amendment. The definition of 'fundamentalism' is "a movement or attitude stressing
strict and literal adherence to a set of basic principles." The strict code in this case would be a devotion to 'Free Speech' - or more accurately - a blind devotion to the Corporation of CAT which is they believe is the earthly embodiment of free speech.
Fundamentalism is often driven by legalistic dogma. Legalism is defined as a"strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code; the institutionalized legalism that restricts free choice." This certainly defines CAT and its religious army! Purists have become so fixated on the legalistic definition of 'Free Speech' that the service itself has become of little importance.
This is just the same old trap that many Christian groups sometimes fall into - loving the PROGRAM rather than the PEOPLE. CAT fundamentalists get their sense of righteousness from rallying around a CAUSE rather than the COMMUNITY. That's truly sad.
All cults revel in their self-declaration of being a 'last bastion' or of pure truth and righteousness. CAT is no different. On several occasions members and supporters of the ministry have declared CAT to be a last bastion of free speech. This sense of being a 'holy remnant' leads to fanaticism, cruelty, and justification of all kinds of bad behavior such as fraud or even child pornography. Cults will
often get away with these crimes for years until the weight of its own arrogance finally brings about its collapse.
Cults always come to a predictable end: homicide or suicide. Same is true for CAT. It will be interesting to see which direction this organization goes with it finally implodes.
In the meantime, I've alwasy found it entertaining to observe the cast of Characters in this Public Access drama. Some of the ministers in the body of CAT include... .
Richard Drake - TV Preacher. Worships all things Progressive. Preaches left-wing morality with more devotion and dedication than most Christians.
Chuck Roberts - John the Baptist figure. Self styled prophet in the Fayetteville wilderness. Warrior for the Church. Ready to wield a sword and bludgeon any infidel who dares question the righteousness of CAT. Also serves as the Church Lady who conducts discussions and Bible studies for the members (such as this bulletin board) and extracurricular activities like the occasional pot luck dinner.
Sky Blaylock - Current high priest. Resident Pastor. Christ figure. Carries the burdens and sins of CAT upon her shoulders. Corrupted by the Church leaders. Passing on the sins of the Fathers (and mothers) of previous CAT generations and keeping the torch of meanness and hateful burning.
Jim Bemis - Zealot and Public Access Purist. Hard core supporter of CAT's corporate greed and power grabbing, as well as tireless defender of CAT's stranglehold over the Public Access Television. It doesn't matter if the service itself is crap, as long as Public Access (and all media for that matter) is pure, undefiled, and completely controlled by the left wing!
There are plenty more... Kathryn Shulds the occasional oracle. Jim Goodlander the occasional Goliath thug. Marvin Hilton the Pope and Figure Head. And so on...
I guess I'd have to include myself in that list too. I'm the sane one who pointed out corruption and hypocrisy in the Church leaders and was promptly excommunicated. I continued to speak the truth even to this day in spite of the murderous, deranged spirit of some CAT fundamentalists. I have even suffered a public flogging in court by an angry hysterical CAT mob! Wow, talk about group hysteria!! But the
truth is the truth, and I make no apologies for speaking it.
Eventually it will help bring about the demise of this evil corporation.
I'm sure you'll have a different spin on my role. So go ahead, take your best shot! Do what CAT fundamentalist do best which is slander and murder who dares question your purity and moral supremacy. Bring it on Fundamentalists! Give me your best Jihad!
While you are engaged in battle, though, just be aware that CAT's relationship with the City will probably begin to unravel soon. The end is near. It would be wise to prepare for the end of CAT and the liberation of Public Access TV and free speech in Fayetteville.
Joey Dutton
******
Getting Back to Earth:
Some may be interested in an interview I did with local ultra-conservatve writer and occasional co-host of KOFC's Insight AM, about jury nullification. Though we had a lively discussion, I'm still not sure how I feel about the subject.
Near the end the subject vears off to a bizarre discussion of hate crime legislation - which Don and I are about three thousand miles apart on,
Days and times:
Monday - 7pm
Tuesday - noon
Saturday - 6pm
******
Tracy and I just got back into town this afternoon from Oklahoma, and we both want to express our gratitude at the kindness that so many people have shown - both for her fight against cancer, and the death of her mother last week.
Thank you all so much.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007 - 01:48:14
Mothers always pick bad times to die, I suppose
For the past hour or so I have been attempting to navigate my way through Google, trying to discover how emotional stress can effect chemo therapy. There is no good time for a mother to die, but I can’t help but wish that Tracy’s mother could have somehow managed to live a little longer, or at least until Tracy’s chemo treatments are over.
She has already had to delay her most recent scheduled treatment while she sat in the hospital with her, until her death this morning. And so I read - everything I can find - and it just makes me worry.
Tracy and her mother were devoted to each other. And now it is one more emotional life line that she has lost, right in the middle of this ordeal of her own. I’m sure that other partners feel the same sense of helplessness that I feel, when the chemo works its dark magic on Tracy’s body, and you wish you could take just a little of the pain away.
Now I’m just afraid that between the delayed chemo treatment and her mother’s death, her recovery may that much more difficult.
Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
Is it possible city staff has forgotten the Telecomm Board exists?
Need to spice up that blog a little, Dan
The Shock Troops of the Property Rights movement
God really doesn't like you, you know . . .
Plenty more miners where they came from?
And lo, his Quiver was full . . .
Why the rush to build cell towers?
Bikes Blues and BBQ - traffic laws for lesser folk?
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