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Tuesday, June 30, 2009 - 09:55:48
When I think of Coal
Some time ago a series of “There’s no such thing as Clean Coal” commercials ran that particularly hit home with me, as they brought back memories of when we used to visit my grandparents in their tenement home in Liverpool in the 1960s.
It had been long time since I had been in England, since I was a baby when we first left, and so when my father was stationed at Croughton Air Force Base in 1964, we lived for a time with my grandparents, in the Wavertree district.
Talk about culture shock.
The only running water in the house was in the kitchen, which meant that weekly bath time meant dragging a huge tub into the living room so that we kids could take a bath.
The outhouse was in the back garden patio area, and the Liverpool Echo (a daily newspaper) was used as toilet paper.
And the heating?
Coal. Nasty, black chunks of coal.
Every home on Callow Road was heated with the stuff, and every home for miles around. The smoke over the community rose like the smoke over a factory before environmental laws set in, and by noon, it came back down again, settling down on whatever it touched.
Your face, your neck, your hair.
It was worse in the cold weather, of course.
Ah, sweet coal!
Later we moved to Banbury, where we still used coal to heat with, but we had indoor plumbing.
******
And about those horses . . .
There were also horse-drawn milk trucks making deliveries. Oh, how Norman Rockwell!
Yeah, coal soot and the lovely presents that horses leave in the street. Welcome to the big city, kid.
One day I’ll write about the dreadful school I attended for a time, St. Bridget’s, in Liverpool.
*****
Quote of the Day
Everyone has talent; what is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads. - Erica Jong
****
The America Question - Coralie Koonce
Coralie Koonce has written two books in the Thinking Toward Survival series, and is currently at work on the third
Expecting America to be the "greatest country in the world" makes me uncomfortable. In other words, I'm a matriot rather than a patriot.
America is great because it has had 225 years of Constitutional government, the Bill of Rights, assimilated a large number of people who were immigrants or former slaves, has gradually and finally become a true representative democracy. It is special to me because it is my country and I'm familiar with its traditions and customs, its people, mountains, lakes, trees, animals, and plants. I've lived in 12 different states in all four corners of this country and the middle.
But insisting that "We're the greatest" reminds me too much of some guy yelling in a bar. Why is it a competition? Other countries have some great things about them, and we have some big skeletons in our closet. As I pointed out in latest book Swimming in a Sea of Ideology American exceptionalism is notable for the many ways we lag behind a number of other countries in measures of social well-being.
When did it stop being great? Even the Founders made a few mistakes. Our Constitution should have written in the women and not written in slavery. We took some wrong turns starting 150 years ago with Manifest Destiny and the war with Mexico, which was the first act of blatant imperialism and also set us up for the Civil War. Then the corporations gained too much power after the Civil War, especially the 1886 rule that gave them the rights of people.
The Spanish-American War of 1898 started us on a century of imperialism, with a brief interlude of non-aggression during the 1930s. We've been wasting our treasure on trillions of dollars of armaments ever since the Cold War began 60 years ago. We lost the moral high ground with CIA coups in places like Chile, Guatemala, and Iran in the 1950s. Wars in Vietnam, Panama, the Gulf--not acts of the "greatest country in the world."
Things started to go downhill when Reagan was elected in 1980 and the counter-revolutions began against the New Deal and the 1960s. The Southern Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 didn't help our political system.
Well, eight years of Bush-Cheney was the last straw.
I'll go out on a limb and say that the Cold War began a decline that makes us not nearly so great as we once were. And that was Truman who started the Cold War. The Cold War set us on the path of military build-up and interventions. I think the answer is to dismantle the American Empire, as historian Chalmers Johnson proposes. To defend ourselves we don't need hundreds of bases around the world or building up for war in space. It just bleeds our treasure.
rsdrake@nwark.com
Monday, June 29, 2009 - 10:28:21
OOPs
No - Wayne Fincher is smiling - not in.
Moron.
Johnny Tittle the new Chief Deputy for Washington County Tax Collector? Somewhere, Wayne Fincher in smiling today
There’s just something so wonderful about having Johnny Tittle, former King of local Christian Talk radio, and and as close to a radio mouthpiece for the Militia of Washington County as one might find, being appointed to the be David Ruff’s Chief Deputy.
They met at the same church, you know.
I think we all remember the Militia of Washington County. The guys who loved property rights, hated gun control, the United Nations, liberals, and, oh yeah, taxes.
And if these folks needed to get the word out about any of their views or activities, the place to go was Johnny Tittle’s radio show. In fact, on at least one occasion Johnny bragged that he thought that ultra-right-wing columnist Mike Masterson was getting some of his ideas from him.
I don’t know. I’m sure that Tittle will work hard at his job, but one person has suggested that this is sort of like hiring someone from the Fayetteville Free Thinkers to do missionary work for Ronnie Floyd’s First Baptist Church.
******
Quote of the Day
Let us disallow being led into battle against our fellow global citizens. - Marvin Hilton
*****
On the Air - Gay Marriage
This week I’ll sit down and talk with Vickie Kelley, who has been in a committed relationship since the mid-1990s.
Though gay couples are barred from marriage in Arkansas, in 1996 Kelley and her partner chose to have a public ceremony, a sacred union which for them was as real as any legally-binding marriage.
Kelley will discuss their life since then, and her feelings about the bigotry that many gay couples face in this country.
The interview will feature moments from their 1996 ceremony.
Show days and times
Monday - June 29 (7pm)
Tuesday - June 30 (noon)
Saturday - July 4 (6pm)
****
The New Media: The Brave New World Beckons
Recently I took part in a presentation that was given to the Senior Democrats of Washington
County on New Media. Also taking part were Dustin Bartholomew (www.fayettevilleflyer.com/), and Fayetteville Alderman Matthew Petty
(www.matthewpetty.org).
Bartholomew's site is a popular one where many go for entertainment and political news. Elected to represent Fayetteville's Ward 2 in 2008, Petty has pushed the city to promote itself using social media.
Show days and times:
Friday: 3pm
Saturday: 3pm
C.A.T. is shown on Channel 18 of the Cox Channel line-up in Fayetteville.
Those outside the Fayetteville viewing area can see the program online at:
www.catfayetteville.org/
Programs shown on the website are seen at the same time as they are shown
on C.A.T.
***
Trying to figure out what to call the show
While we were editing the New Media forum, someone suggested calling it, The New Media: To Infinity and Beyond! But then we were mindful of just how much the Disney folk love to sue people.
Someone else came up with The new Media: Huh? That works just as well, I suppose, since it changes so rapidly. Not sure how many would have appreciated the title, though.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 - 09:50:00
Creatures of the Night
One of the more interesting jobs I had when I was younger was the time I worked as night manger at 7-11 in Fayetteville. The store, located across from what is now Fiesta Square, was pretty busy at night, especially after the 71 Drive-In would finish its shows for the evening.
I worked at 7-11 for a little less than a year, but for the most part, it was a lot of fun. About 15 years ago I took a part-time job at a similar store in Fayetteville, though that wasn’t nearly as much fun.
It was one of those dreadful places where the night person - in addition to keeping the place clean - had to make the food that is available under glass by the register. Biscuits, imitation Egg McMuffins, all sorts of dreadful things.
All while tending to the needs of the customers.
After a few days, I had pretty much had my fill of the job. I think it was pretty evident when a customer came in and brusquely demanded coffee and biscuits.
“Would you like anything edible to go with that?” I asked.
At that point I realized that this was not the job for me. I resigned my commission that morning. Anyway, some may enjoy this view of convenience stores they may not have thought of before. This is also in my book, Ozark Mosaic.
Creatures of the Night
Written by Richard S. Drake
“I live among the creatures of the night.” So goes the song by Laura Brannigan, and it is the theme of so many who work nights in tiny markets across the country. Though the song came out some years after I served my time as a 7-11 night manager, I salute the sentiment.
So there I was, in the late 1970s, making $3.10 an hour as a night manager, and waiting for adventure. I may not have gotten adventure, but I certainly was entertained.
Sometimes our customers were so distracted from late night partying that just wandering our aisles was like a trip through Fantasy Island. The simplest things would excite them. “Wow! Cod Liver Oil! I haven't had this since I was a kid!” If a swig of that didn’t sober them up, nothing would.
Or the drive-in located across the street would empty out and people would swarm in, looking for anything edible.
Since it was the late 1970s, a lot of farm boys came in, looking like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.
Often, after the clubs would close, guys would end up taking their dates to the store, kind of like a ritual to finish a hot date. While the guys would huddle around the pinball machine (pre-video games), the girls would eat candy bars and thumb through magazines, bored out of their minds.
Their boyfriends never even noticed.
The pinball machines themselves were a major hassle as far as I was concerned. I never quite trusted the customers our store attracted at three in the morning, huge hulks in leather jackets, hovering over the machine, while others would wander the aisles, as I was busy cleaning up or taking care of customers. It was clear that major shoplifting was going on. I told the manager, but she was no help.
“You’ll just have to handle it the best you can.” Some advice. I figured the least she could do was give me a shotgun. Short of violence, there seemed to be little I could do to stop the spree.
I waited until the next weekend when my burly visitors came to visit again. Then, while their attention was riveted on the shiny little balls, I stole into the backroom. Once there, I went to the fuse box and cut the power to the pinball machine. Instant results.
“Hey! What’s going on?”
I rushed out, my face a mask of concern. “What’s the matter, guys?”
There was inarticulate waving, and then one managed to say, “Machine stopped dead in its tracks.”
“Is that right, I grimaced. “Same thing happened last night. Tell you what,” and I opened the register drawer, “have a game on us.” I handed over a quarter.
“Hey, man, you’re a good dude.” And my two jewels went over and promptly dropped the quarter into a machine that was obviously as dead as their brain cells. They stared for a second at the blackness and then one wailed, “It’s still broken!”
“I’m sorry, guys,” I said. “I guess we’re both out some money.” In the morning, I turned the juice back on an hour before the manager arrived.
With a few variations, I played the same scenario several times that summer. It always worked like a charm.
Prices are usually higher (you noticed) at convenience stores because you pay for the convenience. It has been estimated that the average customer spends only three minutes in and out. As a general rule, then, you don’t get to know many customers that well unless they are regulars and have time to waste.
Time to waste! I enjoyed most of my customers immensely, especially the delivery drivers and truckers coming in for a quick coffee. You can pick ups lot from people who have been around in the world and kept their wits about them. In out bull sessions, which sometimes lasted for hours, I learned a great deal.
The best night I spent was New Year's Eve, 1980. Everybody felt so sorry for me, having to work, that most of my customers shared with me whatever booze they had. By morning, I was a giant mixed drink. I felt sloshy, but good.
The trouble came when they moved me to day shift. All of a sudden, there were different rules to play by. The creatures of the night had given way to the straight-laced zombies of the afternoon. I began to be bored with my job. Everything was rush, rush, rush and customers were discouraged from hanging around.
I couldn't hack it. My senses wore still attuned to the witching hour. I had trouble controlling my bad attitude on days. Finally, I had to leave. It had ceased to be fun. It had become just another job.
I still miss it, sometimes. The pay was lousy, I was occasionally afraid of being robbed, but the customers, my fellow creatures of the night, were wonderful.
Grapevine - July 13, 1990
Monday, June 22, 2009 - 09:52:02
Well, a mural would make a good start, I suppose
There are times when I truly miss the Big Dig, the site of the long-promised Renaissance Tower, just off Fayetteville’s Square. Much like former mayor Dan Coody, it provided much inspiration to writers across Fayetteville. When the Big Dig and Big Dan were both with us, one never had to worry about writer’s block.
Even though the unsightly hole has been filled in - permanently? - and a parking lot has taken its place, many in the area still have cause for complaint.
What raises folks’ ire is the look of the buildings rising all about the parking lot, the sort of primer paint attractiveness that one can’t help but notice with disdain, even when driving casually by the lot. Even though the hole has been filled ion, the towering walls still give the area the aura of economic depression meets nuclear war aftermath.
And who needs that, right off the square?
A number of people have wondered if perhaps some some of community art project might not be in order? A giant mural?
Wow - a giant mural. What a concept! So cool, so Fayetteville, when you think about it.
Some thing is needed to cover the god awful space, that’s for certain.
Hell, even gang graffiti might be an improvement, at this point.
******
Quote of the Day
I cling to my imperfection as the very essence of my being. - Anatole France
*****
The America Question - Art Hobson
The continuing series about our country, Are we still the “greatest” country in the world? If not, just what has happened? Today, we hear from Art Hobson, Professor Emeritus of Physics, at the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville.
We are certainly not the greatest country in the world, and haven't been for a long time. Our greatness expired sometime around 1950. Since then, we've been too ideological, self-satisfied, and set in our ways to be a great nation. Basically, the problem is conservative ideology, especially fundamentalist religion, but there's also lots of ideology on the left.
We seem unable to think through our problems rationally and take practical action to solve them. President Obama does take a rational, pragmatic approach, and he gives me hope. During the past few decades, the nations I would nominate for greatness include Sweden, Germany, and Denmark. They have little poverty, good health care for all, hardly any homeless people, they are solidly pro-environment, they have a decent public-private balance, the corporations don't run these countries as they do the United States.
****
Joe Alexander - Renewing Your Life-Force - II
The website address I gave a few days ago actually didn’t offer much more information on Joe Alexander’s new book. Renewing Your Life-Force. This site offers a little more info:
http://biospiritualregeneration.com/book.htm
***
Heather Drain: Kinski Uncut
This week I sit down with film reviewer Heather Drain to discuss actor Klaus Kinski’s autobiography, Kinski Uncut, which reveals just how complicated the intense actor truly was. Kinski had a volatile life, both on the set and off.
Kinski starred in many films, including Nosferatu the Vampyre, Fitzcarraldo, Crawlspace, and Aguirre: The Wrath of God.
Show days and times:
Monday - 1:30pm
Tuesday 10pm
Wednesday - 10:15am
Thursday - 9pm
Friday - 2:30pm
C.A.T. is shown on Channel 18 of the Cox Channel line-up in Fayetteville.
Those outside the Fayetteville viewing area can see the program online at:
http://www.catfayetteville.org/
Programs online are shown in “real time,” meaning that they are shown at the same time as they are shown on C.A.T.
Thursday, June 18, 2009 - 10:33:39
Waiting
Sitting in the Breast Center yesterday, while Tracy had a “routine” mammogram. Except, of course, they are never routine, especially after a couple has gone through breast cancer together.
After a few minutes, I began to become nervous, and my mind began to replay the first time that we had been here, in the spring of 2007, when Tracy had gotten her diagnosis. I’ve written before on the fear we both experienced, and the day she donated her hair to charity, both of which I recalled with sharp clarity yesterday, sitting on the couch in the reception area, unable to focus on the book in my lap.
I would refocus on the book, only to jerk my head up every time the door would open, expecting either Tracy or (my worst fear) a nurse asking me to come back so that I could talk with Tracy and the doctor.
My hand began to trace a pattern on the fabric of the couch. The book was forgotten in my lap as I awaited my wife’s return.
Finally, the wait was over, and Tracy emerged. Allis well, and we both heaved a sigh of relief - yes, that;’s a cliche, but you have no idea how true it can be.
******
Well done, KNWA
A nice piece on KNWA (Channel 24) about the Fayetteville trailer park with people living in horrific conditions. Next time, might be nice to know who actually owns this particular hellhole, and put them on the spot.
Also, might be nice to get the reaction of the mayor, and whichever aldermen whose ward this trailer park is in - but still, nice job.
More than we get from the daily papers.
*****
Quote of the Day
"Nobody can be well psychologically if their riches or life depend on the instability of someone else's life." - Rachel Townsend, Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center (2007)
****
Joe Alexander - Renewing Your Life-Force
Fayetteville artist and activist Joe Alexander has published a new book, Renewing Your Life-Force, the result of 35 years of his personal search for more vitality and joy in life.
Out of his research, he has found what he believes are some basic tools that may help everyone in the key areas of:
1. Renewing your spiritual energy
2. Detoxing your body and optimizing your nourishment
3. Releasing suppressed emotions
To order, call 1-888-795-4274 ext. 7876 or www.xlibris.com More information can be gleaned from the website.
***
On the Air with Clayton Scott, Fayetteville's Poet Laureate
Next week I’ll be sitting down for an interesting conversation with with Clayton Scott, Fayetteville's Poet Laureate.
In addition to being Fayetteville's Poet Laureate Scott’s recent one-man play “Down in Littletown” had its debut in Fayetteville.
Show days and times
Monday - June 22 (7pm)
Tuesday - June 23 (noon)
Saturday - June 17 (6pm)
C.A.T. is shown on Channel 18 of the Cox Channel line-up in Fayetteville. Those outside the Fayetteville viewing area can see the program online:
http://www.catfayetteville.org/
Programs online are shown in “real time,” meaning that they are shown at the same time as they are shown on C.A.T.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - 09:46:46
Things that re-enact in the night . . .
Passing by Prairie Grove Battlefield Park last Saturday, the conversation turned to all those ghost hunters who like to descend upon such places, seeking to capture proof of the afterlife. And then, of course, one thinks of all those awful TV shows in which people seem to spend the afterlife doing nothing but walking up and down staircases, and traipsing up and down hallways.
Yes, well, no ambition in life, none in the afterlife, I suppose.
Not so, some of my friends insist. These spirits are merely haunting the places they happened to love a lot in real life; we just happen to see them in the hallways and the staircases.
Okay.
So once you accept the premise of spirits just sort of hanging out in one place, and not taking the time to visit the places they have always wanted to see in what one might term as “real life “ - the Grand Canyon, London, the Taj Mahal, William Shatner’s patio - one wonders who else might be hanging out, and where.
Which brings us all the way back to Prairie Grove Battlefield Park.
If folks are haunting the places they really, really loved, then I am left wondering if some of those Civil war soldiers that one sometimes sees haunting such sites - and soldiers from other bygone eras as well, I suppose - might not just be re-enactors, doing what they love best?
Of course, if that theory holds water, I suppose one day we’d be getting reports of encounters with spirits who are wearing Star Trek uniforms. That would be a fun show to watch, if it ever happened.
******
Speaking of ghosts, one thinks of the ever-wretched Ghost Whisperer
CBS has picked up Medium, which was recently canceled by NBC, and will be adding it to its Friday night linhe-up, following the Junior Varsity Ghost Whisperer, which has become a parody of itself in recent years.
I’ve always sort of wandered about the middle-class morality exhibited by the protagonist on GW, who insists that all spirits must “go into the light.”
Why?
What if they just want to hang out for a while? Maybe they want to see the places they never had a chance to visit before. Maybe you want to play at being at being a Civil War re-enactor, perhaps?
Personally, I think the whole “you must go into the light business” has a whole lot more to do with the psychological hangups of the main character than anything else.
*****
Quote of the Day
Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead. - Mac McCleary
****
Return to the Planet of the Apes: I’m going Humanoid over you . . .
There was a time when you could do get away with almost anything on children's television. Nowadays, of course, most of it seems to be bland fare - or at least it appears that way to these jaded eyes.
A few decades ago, Saturday morning television was a little more interesting to watch. Admittedly, most of the offerings were probably as lame as today, but every so often something intriguing would come along.
In 1974, CBS came out with the disastrous live-action Planet of the Apes, a series which should have been great, but which was mishandled badly. What might have been a series every bit as good as the film series - somewhere out there is the lost pilot episode written by Rod Serling (deep sigh) - but was hampered by being put in the so-called "Family Hour," which was the kiss of death for any adventure series.
It lasted just a scant few months. That seemed to be it for the Apes franchise. But wait, what's this?
It's September 1975, and NBC decides to see if there is life in the old girl yet, with Return to the Planet of the Apes. It was some trepidation that I turned on my black and white portable that morning, and was favorably impressed.
The opening shots featured a desolate landscape featuring crucified (yes!) upside down apes, eerie misc, lightning flashes, humans pursued by apes. Yes, this was more like it.
All right, the animation was lousy. This was the period when Filmation was leading the pack on Saturday morning with their versions of Star Trek and Tarzan, and a host of imitators where not far behind.
The storyline? Well, there's these three American astronauts, see, and somehow, they end up in the future - our future - and it's dominated by apes! They find out in episode three, but we know before they crash, because we see the Earth as their little spaceship - which looks like an old Gemini capsule - enters the atmosphere.
There might have been some kids out there somewhere who didn't know that the Planet of the Apes was Earth; why not let them find out along with the astronauts?
The animated series owes a great deal more to the films and novel by French novelist Pierre Boulle than to the CBS series. In fact, it is actually quite a bit more exciting than the CBS attempt.
One particular deviation from the films is the fact that these apes have mastered a certain degree of technology. They drive cars, and have radio and television.
Great care was taken with the characterizations. Though a Saturday morning series, these characters all stand out as individuals, human and ape alike.
Several characters are borrowed from the films - Zira, Cornelius, Zaius, Nova, and Urko from the TV series - and are used yo great advantage. Also used well are the Underdwellers, the deadly inhabitants of buried New York City.
In the NBC series our trio of astronauts are essentially guerilla fighters, helping the humans survive, and trying to evade capture by the apes. But like the CBS series, no conclusion was ever reached. For all we know, they are still out there, somewhere.
There is a lot of unexpected humor, too. At one point two of the astronauts need to get back into Ape City (Ape City: how narcissistic is that?) And jump into the back of a pickup truck driven by an old ape farmer. On the radio is a love song with the title, "I'm going Humanoid over you."
How could you not love this show?
One fun question - while astronauts from the films and the previous series wore animal skins, these astronauts wore T-shirts, pants and boots. Surely that should have been a dead giveaway to any apes who came in contact with them?
No, not a bit. So even though we ultimately don't know what happened to our stalwart heroes, I am heartened by Charlton Heston's line from Planet of the Apes:
"If this is the best this planet has to offer, in six months we'll be running the place."
Along with the series came a series of paperback novels by William Arrow, which novelized the episodes. The books were considerably more violent and adult oriented than the animated series.
Trivia note: Austin Stoker, who supplied the voice of astronaut Jeff Allen, had also played MacDonald in Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Fayetteville's Superior Industries - The Smell of Money
God's Candidate?
Fox News: Pick a Target - any target
Fayetteville Apartments: Maybe we aren't asking all the right questions
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