Joni Mitchell Smoking
This content was published
November 8, 2025. … Yesterday I posted a birthday tribute to Joni Mitchell. In the late stages of the vetting process, the thought occurred to me: What brand of cigarette did she smoke? The AI overview mentions American Spirit, and Camels. American Spirit came on the market in 1982. Joni started her habit in 1952, so she was a Camel girl for 30 years.
In 1991, Joni had a new album to promote. The Telegraph helped out with a “puff piece”, THE FLOWERING OF JONI MITCHELL. “Even the cigarettes she smokes are particular. They are called American Spirit, and come in a sky blue pack, and they say a lot about Joni Mitchell. For these are truly designer cigarettes, free of artificial additives, expensive. Mitchell volunteers the long and detailed explanation of the true smoking aficionado: ordinary cigarettes contain saltpetre which makes them burn down quicker; these cigarettes last longer, but you still have all that addiction-quenching nicotine.” (American Spirit might not be that healthy after all.)
“… Even as the last plume of blue smoke from one cigarette is melting in the air, she is relighting another. One sees in this a small, but telling gesture of defiance. In California, smoking is regarded with the puritanical disdain of a social disease; Joni Mitchell — for many, the very personification of a certain Californian way of life (although she is actually Canadian) — doesn’t care.”
The Telegraph published Joni Mitchell: still smoking on October 4, 2007. “’I’ll try not to kill you with secondary smoke,” says Joni Mitchell, as she lights up at the table. The great Canadian singer-songwriter likes her cigarettes, and, at 63, nothing is likely to persuade her to stop smoking now. … “It’s one of life’s great pleasures,” she says, mischievously revelling in political incorrectness as she exhales a small cloud through wide nostrils. …
Mitchell’s speaking voice is a little husky, and her singing voice has noticeably altered over the years, losing the high end and modulating into a sensuous alto, but she blames age rather than tobacco. “I have smoked since I was nine, so obviously it didn’t affect my early work that much.” … And then she diverts into a rambling reminiscence of childhood in the remote farming community of Saskatoon. “I would grab my tobacco and get on my bike, looking for a beautiful place, a grove of trees or a field, and go amongst the bushes and smoke and that always gave me a sense of well being.”
On June 21, 2012, My cigarettes, my self, by Joanne Laucius, appeared in the Ottawa Citizen. “Songstress Joni Mitchell has often been photographed with a cigarette in her hand. Women artists and writers have used cigarettes to define themselves. “It is not by chance that Joni Mitchell adopted cigarettes as integral to her artistic integrity,” says historian Sharon Anne Cook in Sex, Lies, and Cigarettes, a new book about women and smoking. …
Mitchell appeared on the cover of her 1976 album Hejira with a cigarette. She has often been photographed with a cigarette in hand and interviewers often mention Mitchell chain-smoking. In a 1995 Vogue article, the writer noted there were two packages of cigarettes on the table “that (Mitchell) makes her way through with Bette Davis speed.” A reporter at The Independent noted in 1994 that when Mitchell’s left hand stubbed out one cigarette, her right hand was lighting the next one.”
“Concern for Mitchell’s health unfortunately seems warranted. She’s a life-long smoker (although apparently she now smokes e-cigarettes instead) who contracted polio as a child, struggles with a weird skin condition called Morgellons Disease, and in 2015 survived a brain aneurysm from which she’s never fully recovered, making it difficult for her to walk.” People magazine says that Joni quit smoking after her 2015 aneurysm.… Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in March 1941. “Men eating at Salvation Army. Newport News, Virginia.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Joni Mitchell
This content was published November 11, 2025. … Today is Joni Mitchell’s 83rd birthday. Roberta Joan Anderson was born November 7, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Alberta. For this birthday tribute we will revisit four previous posts. one two three four … A facebook friend went on a Joni Mitchell kick. First it was a link to an interview, which youtube has cancelled. Then it was a quote from The Last Time I Saw Richard. A lady said Blue was her favorite album all all time, and a man enthusiastically agreed.
Given the apples and oranges quality of her catalog, it would be tough to pick one album as a favorite. I soon realized that fbf was going to be thirty soon. I am sixty. These are two different perspectives on the craft of Joni Mitchell. One has driven through the storm, not knowing what was next. The other is presented with an almost complete body of recorded work.
I have known about Joni since high school, and been a devoted fan since 1976. Joni’s most popular album, Court And Spark, came out in 1974, eleven years before fbf was born. Who would be the equivalent female musical force from 1943, when I was minus eleven? The answer is nobody. (Coincidentally Roberta Joan Anderson was born on November 7, 1943.) 
After the comment about Blue, I listened to For The Roses. Joni’s craft is like a cluster bomb … there are lines that you never fully felt, bomblets waiting to explode in your gut. Let The Wind Carry Me has one of those hidden threats. “Mama thinks she spoilt me, Papa knows somehow he set me free, Mama thinks she spoilt me rotten, She blames herself, But papa he blesses me.”
The first thing I heard by Joni was Big Yellow Taxi. It was on The Big Ball, a 1970 mail order sampler from Warner Brothers. This was when Joni shacked up with Graham Nash. The next year saw Blue, followed by For The Roses, and Court And Spark. I always thought Joni was someone I should like, but somehow didn’t. It wasn’t until 1976 that I broke through the barrier, and became a Joni Mitchell fan. Seeing her in concert did not hurt.
On February 3, 1976, I took a study break. (I scored 100 on the test the next day). Joni Mitchell was playing at the UGA coliseum a few blocks away, and the door was not watched after the show started. I found a place to stand, on the first level of the stands. The LA express was her band that night, and created a tight, jazzy sound, even in the UGA coliseum. Tom Scott pointed at Joni, said she was crazy, and drew circles around his left ear. The one line I remember is “chicken scratching my way to immortality” from Hejira.
The Hissing of Summer Lawns might not be her best album, but it is certainly her bravest. Court And Spark was a commercial success. Instead of producing a bestselling followup, Joni took a ninety degree turn. Summer Lawns, for all its eccentric sparkle, confused the record buying public. The gravy train took off in another direction.
In those days, 96rock played a new album at midnight, which people would tape. On the night of the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash, the album was Hejira. This was followed by Mingus, another curve ball. Finally, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter appeared, and did not make a good impression.
The eighties, nineties, and aughts appeared. Joni and I lived our lives. 1996 saw a frightening interview in Details magazine. It was startling to see that for all her granola glory, Joni Mitchell might not be a very nice person. In a pot and kettle moment, David Crosby said “Joni’s about as humble as Mussolini.” Music is a tough way to make easy money.
More recently, there was a long interview on Canadian television. She is not mellowing with age. The cigarettes have not killed her, even if her voice is not what it once was. The recent albums that I have heard are strong. There seem to be more on the way. Maybe the facebook friend will have the “what is she going to do next” experience after all.
A few weeks ago, I was at the library. I had a story to take home, before going over to the biography section. There I found Reckless Daughter: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell. At least with fiction, you know you are dealing with a made up story. With biography, you have to use judgment.
It is a familiar story. Joni was born in the frozen north, was a rebellious girl, and got pregnant. She gave up the daughter for adoption, only to be reunited many years later. Joan Anderson gets married to, and divorces, Chuck Mitchell. Joni sings, writes, tunes her guitar funny, becomes a star, gets too weird to be popular, makes and loses money, smokes millions of cigarettes, and becomes an angry old lady. There is a bit more to the story than that. Reckless Daughter fills in a few of the blank spots.
Millions of cigarettes might be an exaggeration. Joni started smoking when she was nine. When she was a star, she was almost as well known for her constant puffing as her pretty songs. When Joni was in a Reagan era slump, she was going through four packs a day. Just for the sake of statistics, lets call it two packs, or forty fags, a day. Multiply forty by 365 and you get 14,600. If she started at 9, and had her aneurysm at 72, that gives you 63 years of nicotine abuse. If you assume that there were forty fags a day for 63 years, that gives you 919,800 smokes. IOW, while seven figures is not out of reach, it is rather unlikely that Joni smoked more than 2,000,000 cancer sticks.
The author of Reckless Daughter, David Yaffe, is a problem. He talks about the mood of America in 1969, four years before he was born. Mr. Yaffe goes to great lengths to show us that he knows about making music. Some readers will be impressed. There are mini-essays on Joni songs from her golden years, the time between Ladies Of The Canyon and Hejira. And gossip, gossip, and more gossip. Joni is well known for her celebrity lovers.
We should make the point that I enjoyed Reckless Daughter. The inside stories are fun, and pages turn over without too much head scratching. Maybe this is a statement about the career of Joni Mitchell. You enjoy the music for many years, and then complain about the details. Reckless Daughter follows the trajectory of other celebrity biographies. The star is born, takes up a craft, gets a break, becomes successful, goes over the mountaintop into a long decline. With Joni, nothing after Mingus was well received. The chanteuse was broker, and angrier, by the minute.
On page 13, Joni hears Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff. This is the piece that makes her want to be a musician. One page 129, we learn the story of A&M studios in Hollywood. At one time, The Carpenters were in studio A, while Carole King was recording “Tapestry” in studio B. Joni was recording “Blue” in studio C, which had a magic piano. One time, Carole King learned of a break in the studio C booking, and ran in. Three hours later, “I feel the earth move” was recorded.
A few years later, Joni was on the Rolling Thunder tour with Bob Dylan. One of the concepts was support for Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, whose story can be found elsewhere. Joni became disillusioned with Mr. Carter. When Joan Baez asked Joni to speak at a benefit concert, Joni said she would say that Mr. Carter was a jive ass N-person, who never would have been champion of the world. Joni later got in SJW trouble for posing in blackface, for the cover to “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter.”
On page 251, we learn that Bob Dylan does not dance. Other items include “Free man in Paris” being written about David Geffen, and Jackson Browne writing “Fountain of Sorrow” about Joni. Mr. Browne is a not-well-thought-of ex of Joni. As for Mr. Geffen…. Joni stayed at his house for a while, at a time when Mr. Geffen was in, and out, of the closet. Did they make sweet music together? … So this book report comes to an end. Joni is recovering from a brain aneurysm, and will probably not produce anything else. The book is going back to the library, and I will move on.
Joni Mitchell has product to promote. She gave an interview to New York magazine, where she smoked a few cigarettes and expressed a few opinions. There were enough attention getting comments to make the news.
“When I see black men sitting, I have a tendency to go — like I nod like I’m a brother. I really feel an affinity because I have experienced being a black guy on several occasions.” She proceeds to tell a story about dressing like a down and out black man as a way of dealing with an obnoxious photographer. “I just stood there till they noticed me. I walked really showily, going, Heh heh heh. It was a great revenge. That was all to get his ass. To freak him out. I had to keep him on the defensive.”
Gay-mafia-made-man David Geffen was a target. “I ask her about a painting, visible in a vestibule, on the way to her laundry room, of a curly-haired man with a banana lodged vertically in his mouth; turns out it’s Geffen, and she painted it. “Before he came out. He’s never seen it,” she says, before explaining: “He was using me as a beard. We were living together, and he’d go cruising at night. He was very ambitious to be big and powerful, and he didn’t think he would be [if he was openly gay].” By 1994, the two had fallen out over her insistence that he didn’t pay her enough in royalties.”
The product is a four cd boxed set, Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced. There was a single one star comment about the joniproduct. Al Norman Seems like a collection of Joni’s forgettable tunes February 3, 2015 ~ “My wife loves Joni Mitchell, and never listens to this set. Seems like a collection of Joni’s forgettable tunes.” This comment was sponsored by Head and Shoulders. “100% flake free hair & A GREAT SCENT”
You just can’t get away from capitalism. Ms. Mitchell heard “… on the radio, a record executive “saying quite confidently, ‘We’re no longer looking for talent. We’re looking for a look and a willingness to cooperate.” As interviewer Carl Swanson notes, “For now, she’s hoping that people buy her boxed set, with her self-portrait on the cover. To that end, she gives me a Joni Mitchell tote bag with one of her paintings on it to carry my things home in. Get the word out.”
Joni Mitchell gave an interview recently to a Canadian Broadcaster. She is famously Canadian. The chat was in her California living room, which is littered with her paintings. Many of the paintings are things like Saskatchewan at forty below. Mrs. Mitchell alternates between painting and music, which tend to balance her cigarette fueled mind.
The CBC interview is paired with a more formal chat in Toronto. She could not smoke during the Toronto interview. The Toronto interviewer is just a bit smarter than Jian Ghomeshi, who endured the second hand smoke in California. Mr. Ghomeshi said things like “The song “Woodstock” defined a generation.” Mrs. Mitchell was in a New York City hotel room that famous weekend.(Spell check suggestion for Jian Ghomeshi: Joan Shoeshine)
There are some juicy quotes. Art is short for artificial. When listening to Joni songs, you should look at yourself, and not at her. Free love was just a gimmick for the men to get laid. False modesty is pointless. Sylvia Plath was a liar, or maybe it was Anne Sexton. (James Dickey said that Sylvia Plath was the Judy Garland of American letters.)
A fearsome foursome gets in the game. Someone screamed, on a live album. “Joni, you have more flash than Mick Jagger, Richard Nixon, or Gomer Pyle combined!.” Years later, the fan introduced himself to Mrs. Mitchell.
The conversation mentioned Bob Dylan. He is from Northern Minnesota, and not quite Canadian. Apparently, Mrs. Mitchell kicked up a fuss with some comments in 2010. ” Bob is not authentic at all. He’s a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I. … Grace [Slick] and Janis Joplin were [sleeping with] their whole bands and falling down drunk, and nobody came after them!”
Did Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell ever tune up together? Joan Baez, a similarly named contemporary, is well known for dating Mr. Zimmerman. Ms. Baez did sing at Woodstock.
Mrs. Mitchell doesn’t exactly take back her comments about Bob Dylan. ““I like a lot of Bob’s songs, though musically he’s not very gifted. He’s borrowed his voice from old hillbillies. He’s got a lot of borrowed things. He’s not a great guitar player. He’s invented a character to deliver his songs. Sometimes I wish that I could have that character — because you can do things with that character. It’s a mask of sorts.”
In a kill the messenger moment, Mrs. Mitchell lashed out at the interviewer from the 2010 piece. It is odd, since he didn’t ask any trick questions. Black and white transcripts are tough to deny. “The interviewer was an asshole.” (The body part is bleeped.) “I hate doing interviews with stupid people, and this guy’s a moron” “His IQ is somewhere between his shoe size and (unintelligible)”.
The troublesome 2010 interview was conducted with John Kelly, a Joni Mitchell tribute artist. “JK: Drag does have a power, though — that netherworld of a thing you can’t quite know, which makes people nervous. JM: Drag wasn’t always counterculture. In his memoirs, Nixon talked about the Harvard and Yale men in power who would put on these plays where they dress like women, and Milton Berle did a kind of “hairy drag.” Becoming a gay thing made drag go underground.” Did Mick Jagger and Gomer Pyle ever do drag with Richard Nixon? … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in February 1939.
“White migrant family in trailer home near Edinburg, Texas” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Toxic Sludge-And-Smoke
1030-1212 – Unfamiliar Cultures, the path journal from last week, is now racking up statistics on an internet near you. … Today’s walk was sunny. The chamblee library had a book for me to pick up, so I walked up there. I did 3.33 miles in 1:53:14.
The first show was What it’s like when Elizabeth Holmes decides to destroy your life on Search Engine. Elizabeth Anne Holmes is a topic of discussion these days, with the release of You Can See Everything. SE host PJ Vogt celebrated YCSE by interviewing Tyler O’Brien Shultz, one of the consequential actors in the Theranos drama.
TOS is the grandson of George Pratt Shultz. The elder Shultz was Secretary of the Treasury under Richard Nixon, and Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan. GPS was charmed by EAH, and gave his support to the Theranos project. Later TOS went to work for Theranos. After TOS saw the problems at Theranos, he blew the proverbial whistle. Things got ugly between grandfather and grandson.
The second story is Min Jin Lee on Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso. MJL writes books. She sometimes interviews people for these books. MJL: “I kind of loosely take notes, but mostly what I’m doing is getting their tone. The definition of tone in fiction is the attitude that the writer has toward her material. That’s really what tone is, which is different than style.”
1031-1023 – The walk went well, lasting 47:17 with no foot dizziness. It is halloween. Facebook said to wish happy birthday to someone who died thirteen years ago. The show today was The Instagram Feud That Ended in a 40-Year Punishment on Infamous. This was about an instagram feud that wound up in court. The person who lost pinned an hostage video apology to the top of her IG page, and will pay Tanya Zuckerbrot $500 a month for forty years. I soon got bored, and listened to music.
1101-1018 – The walk today was tough to accept. I did 1.10 miles in 41:59, with no foot dizziness. Should I be worried about walking so slow? I have always been a slow walker. … The show today was Téa Obreht Reads “Family Lore” on The New Yorker: The Writer’s Voice. A couple has a baby, while living in an Austin high rise. What follows is a series of bizarre circumstances, involving a dog, a bat, and eccentric neighbors. Maybe the best way to describe the story is by telling what was going on when I quit walking. The husband goes upstairs. There is a halloween party going on. The host has a bat adding atmosphere to the party. The husband wants to take the bat to animal protection, to see if it has rabies. I really am curious what will happen in the fifteen minutes before the story is over. … spoiler alert. The host and the husband got in a fight over the bat.
1102-0908 The walk today was interrupted. I walked for 7:14, when I got a call to go pick up Mac at the marta station. The show today is Episode 330: Toxic Love on Blocked and Reported. It promises to be lively. … 1102-1045 – The walk is now over. I did an estimated 52:00, with some mild dizziness. The show is about an alleged Blackface performance at the Blue Moon Cafe in Pittsburgh PA. There is some doubt about the Blackface-edness of the incident. The performer’s look was meant to emulate the toxic sludge-and-smoke cartoon character Hexxus from FernGully. Of course, “White people don’t get to decide what is and isn’t blackface.”
The latest Blackface scandal was enough to fill out the show, so Jesse and Katie had some filler. Fortunately, there is a controversy from 2012 to recycle. The Blue Moon Cafe has been doing controversial drag since Sharon Needles made a spectacle of herself fourteen years ago.
In 2012, there was a nasty controversy about Miss Needles in a community I was connected to. I foolishly made a comment in a facebook thread, which constitutes getting involved. I look back on the Sharon Needles kerfuffle as a turning point in my evolution as a human being. The SNK showed me how shallow, performative, and petty anti-racism can be.
1103-0956 – The walk today had a side trip to the polling place. It is the first tuesday after a monday, and the end of another election season. Hopefully our idiot president won’t celebrate by starting up the war with Iran. … The walk lasted for 55:28, with no foot dizziness in 1.61 miles. Two years ago, I experienced severe foot dizziness on the walk home down the path after voting. … The show today was Everyone Dies (The Bisexuals, Part 8) on You Must Remember This. It was the last episode in this series, and most of the characters die. The only one to live is Elizabeth Taylor. …. With ten minutes to go in the series, YMRT mentions that Monty’s nickname was Princess Tiny Meat. The details of his uncircumcised pecker turn up in a tabloid story about his autopsy.
Note to self: Always google those intriguing details. A search for “tabloid story about monty clift’s autopsy” turned up a website called “Morbid Fact Du Jour! A Cornucopia of Morbid Esoterica Collected By The Comtesse DeSpair.” … MFDJ 02/21/24: The Long Suicide of Montgomery Clift. The maiden name of his mother was Ethel “Sunny” Fogg. … “Never in solid physical condition, the slender, darkly handsome Clift was rejected for World War II duty because of chronic diarrhea.” … MFDJ does not have any anatomical details, not that there was very much to write about.
There was an unwelcome ending to the walk, which fits in with the everyone dies theme. I dropped one of my dollar store earbuds, and it fell apart. It is time for a replacement.
1104-0838 – Today’s walk was wet. I did 34:00 with no foot problems, even if I spent at least five minutes messing with my new earbuds. They have a good sound, when adjusted, and they clip onto my ears, so I can piss with without worrying about an earbud going into the commode. The show today was Catherine Lacey Reads Lorrie Moore on The New Yorker Fiction Podcast. It was the story of a woman, and her grown daughter, on a trip to Ireland. The story shows promise, but I wanted to celebrate the drizzling rain with some music. … There was one delightful moment. I saw a campaign sign for an idiot who lost his election. I put the sign in the dumpster, and took a picture.
1105-0903 The walk today was humid. I did 48:56 with no foot problems. The show today was Tim Curry Performs “Ziggurat” by Stephen O’Connor on Selected Shorts. Tim Curry was reading Ziggurat By Stephen O’Connor. It was fun to listen to Franken Furter talk.
For more information on my walking problem, see The Path Journal. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Collier Jr. took the social media picture in June 1942. “Escambia Farms, Florida. Sunday dinner on the McLelland homestead” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Harper Valley Hotel
This content was published November 3, 2009. … There is a post today at 30pov with the provocative title “Evagrius Ponticus is Old and Stupid.” The thesis here is that the seven deadly sins are obsolete, and need to be updated. The title is a violation of rule 5, but the author can probably explain.
There are only six rules listed here. If you want more chatter about these rules, go to the original post. … Do not treat people badly from the get-go. · Do not have forcible sex. · Do not hurt children. · Do not ignore how others react to you. · Do not use the term “retarded” or “retard” so liberally. · Do not fit yourself into neatly ordered categories, like “seven deadly sins.”
This content was published November 4, 2009. … There was a post yesterday about an update of the seven deadly sins. The title of the source feature was a violation of one of the rules he proposed.
There are several ways 30POV could defend themself against the dread charge of hypocrisy. For one, they said someone is old and stupid, where the rule says not to call someone a retard. Technically, this should clear them, if the letter of the law was all that mattered. However, the spirit of the law refers to name calling in general, with insults based on perceived intelligence given special attention. Perhaps rule number five could have worded a bit better.
It also should be noted that the rulemaker did not say “Do not be a hypocrite”. A few years ago, a putrid pontificator named William John Bennettt published “The Book Of Virtues.” Only later did the public learn that much of the profits from this work were forked over a gambling table. WJB was a compulsive gambler. His defenders quickly noted that he did not condemn gambling in his book.
There are dozens of quotes about hypocrisy, and even more discussions. When someone tells you not to do something that you enjoy, the knee jerk reaction is to look for something this person is doing. Often this is a valid argument.
The truth is that the more opinions you express, the greater your chance of being a hypocrite. Then you factor in the reality that hypocrisy is in the eye of the beholder, that one man’s stand for truth is another’s hollow boast. Sometimes, the best thing to do is shut up and mind your own business. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Esther Bubley took the social media picture in September 1943. “Columbus, Ohio. A bus driver who has just come off his run”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Triumph Of The Pink Pony
In the Brookhaven City Council election meetings that I have seen, the Pink Pony has a been a topic of discussion. Almost nobody wants the city to spend money trying to shut down the exotic dancing emporium. Some have wondered who wanted this action taken in the first place.
On October 6, The Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in favor of Brookhaven. The club, which can afford lawyers, filed legal devices to stay open. Finally, the city decided to hold peace talks with the club.
Tuesday, the talks bore fruit. Brookhaven OKs ‘transition’ deal with Pink Pony. “The Brookhaven City Council on Tuesday agreed to a settlement deal with the Pink Pony that will allow the strip club to stay open and operate with nude dancing and serving alcohol during a six-year “transition” period to come into compliance with city ordinances.
In exchange, the Pink Pony will pay the police department $225,000 a year for the six years to cover public safety costs, reimburse the city for its legal fees, donate land near the club along Peachtree Creek for a city park, and contribute up to $75,000 for the park.”
Councilwoman Rebecca Chase Williams opposed the deal. She read a statement. “I am calling on my colleagues to not succumb to political pressure from a strip club. I consider any kind of payment outside of regular licensing fees to be a bribe. At no time has this effort been a religious or moral crusade. It is about having legal, constitutional laws and enforcing them.
Other cities have gone down this path, but settlements with strip clubs have led only to more litigation and problems. Today, the City of Houston, the City of El Paso, and Horry County, South Carolina (where Myrtle Beach is located) are in court because of settlement agreements with strip clubs from years ago. Other powerful strip clubs are suing, arguing that the city’s agreement to take money to ignore their laws is nothing but a bribe, and that it violates the Equal Protection clause of the US Constitution as well as federal anti-trust laws.”
A brief conversation with Mr. Google does not show any evidence of these lawsuits in Houston, El Paso, or Horry County. A search for “El Paso strip club lawsuit” uncovered Man Dies Getting Lap Dances At El Paso Strip Club. “El Paso County sheriff’s officials said a 67-year-old man died at an El Paso County strip club Friday night. The manager at the Red Parrot strip club said that the man, identified by sheriff’s officials as Robert Gene White, was getting lap dances, but when it came time to pay the dancers, he was unresponsive.”
My Horry News does not seem to know about the case Mrs. Williams mentions. It does have a quote from “Scott Bergthold, a Tennessee lawyer who has been hired to represent the county … “They were bumping and grinding and rubbing their body parts on patrons. That’s not protected speech.”
Another version of the Brookhaven – Pink Pony detente came with the headline, “Despite bribe charge, Brookhaven folds on Pink Pony case.” “In an astounding turn of events, the Brookhaven city council has surrendered to the Pink Pony strip club and will allow it to operate for six years in defiance of the city’s ordinance on sexually oriented businesses and in return for $250,000 a year to the city.” This article was written by Dick Williams, the husband of Rebecca Chase Williams.
Mr. Williams used to write for the fishwrapper. He said some interesting things in the recent report. “Mayors of several other cities were contacted and opposed the Brookhaven action but would not comment on the record. One who did not wish to be identified said, “If I want to sell drugs in Brookhaven, can I just pay the city a fee and set up shop?” A call to the FBI, which has prosecuted strip club owners in several cities, wasn’t returned.”
The City of Brookhaven allows alcohol to be served. In facilities where the employees keep their clothes on, there is no legal harassment. Alcohol is a drug. The misuse of alcohol can have serious consequences. Alcohol users have legal privileges. Indeed, if a person wants to sell legal drugs in Brookhaven, they can just pay the city a fee, and set up shop.
2026 Update: Pink Pony continues to operate, despite a recent controversy about labor practices. On March 11, 2020, Rebecca Chase Williams passed away. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The social media picture, “Bathing beach parade,” was taken July 26, 1919.
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Flying Spaghetti Monster
There has been talk about the flying spagetti monster. FSM was originally created in response to the Kansas State Board of Education. KSBE ruled that alternatives to evolution needed to be taught in public schools, including some contraption known as intelligent design. There was talk about whirlwinds rampaging through warehouses, and creating jet engines.
FSM is a satire religion, in the footsteps of the invisible pink unicorn. Bertrand Russell wrote of an interplanetary teapot, which can contain the beverage for the spaghetti supper. FSM is often used as a substitute for the G word, God. Whether or not Mr. Dammit approves is uncertain. OTOH, nobody ever said the FSM got an under-aged virgin pregnant.
In this rumble for the hearts and minds of the unwashed masses, God has an advantage over FSM. The G word is a marketing dream. It is short, easy to say, and understood by almost everyone who speaks English. While people have different ideas about God, everyone recognizes the name.
FSM, has eight syllables. Spaghetti is notoriously tough to spell. Unless you have heard about the antics of the FSM, you can expect some empty stares when you talk about her.
When I was in school, I wrote a restaurant article. I did not know how to spell spaghetti. The dictionary showed nothing of value in under spe and spi, where logic tells you to look. Finally, I got the yellow pages out, and looked for a spaghetti restaurant. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in October 1940. “Homesteader and his children eating barbeque at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Lower Blood Pressure
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milledgeville · dia de muertos · bam bam · bk · glenn loury
brian eno · underground · kegels · kegels · poetic orgasm
kegels fp · kegels poem · kegels for poets · tom houck · the search
monty clift · signal · inner healing · visuals · blood pressure · · bobby pickett
There is now a Goodwill store on Buford Hiway, next to I285. The building was Treasure Island when it opened. When TI closed, it became one of the two original Home Depots. · 1-Why do videos have small white letters on top of slightly larger white letters? The same reason these videos start over immediately after they finish. Is this artificial intelligence of genuine stupidity? · [20:34, 10/27/2026] J: I was electrician at the thirteenth street playhouse , which was the atlanta women’s club basement – [20:35, 10/27/2026] Luther Mckinnon: supposedly, Margaret Mitchell went to happy hour there with a friend. Her husband met her there. She was drunk. They walked across the street to see a movie, but a taxi driver ran into her. – [20:36, 10/27/2026] J: That’s the story – [20:37, 10/27/2026] Luther Mckinnon: that was a great theater. the lobby was lit by 40w bulbs, and it smelled like fifty year old popcorn. You have probably been in a theater like that – [20:38, 10/27/2026] J: I worked there – [20:39, 10/27/2026] Luther Mckinnon: in the hippie days that was the strip. there was a gay bar, club centaur, where diamond lil did drag shows. thats another thing they don’ty make like they used to, fag bars · In football, a block enables the offense to gain yardage. A tackle negates this benefit. The act of preventing someone from contacting you on facebook/x should be called a tackle, not a block · The word “bed” looks like a bed: Orthographic iconicity in English … Iconicity is orthogonal to systematicity, another kind of non-arbitrariness in language · I found a post about a cleanup at a neighborhood cemetery in 2015. Some of the graves are not well maintained today. · After Breonna Taylor died, Jamarcus Glover had a series of telephone calls with Kiera Bradley, the mother of his daughter. In 2023, Bradley’s 13 year old daughter had a fatal overdose, at the apartment that Bradley and Glover shared. · I was listening to Iggy Pop, while looking for the grave of a Confederate soldier. “The MC5 were gonna go to Chicago to play. It was the Republican or Democratic Convention. They wanted the Stooges to come and do it. I said no, that’s not me.” · I was listening to Iggy Pop, while looking for the grave of a Confederate soldier. … “The MC5 were gonna go to Chicago to play during the big showdown at the convention. I think it was the Republican or Democratic Convention in Chicago, that resulted in the police beatings. They went to play in the park, and wanted the Stooges to come and do it. I said no, I’m not, that’s not us, that’s not me.” “My mother told me that … by the time I was six I already had 12 or 15 stitches in my chin.” · @503i7 Guy tells Fox he went to a Trump rally because he regretted being too young to see the Jones Town Massacre 😆 He said he wanted to see what a cult looks like in person · here is the video. “Maybe this is not a Trump supporter” · Halloween is when facebook tells you to wish happy birthday to someone who has been dead for 13 years. . · The first poem was “Looking for the Buckhead Boys” by James Dickey. I began to read out loud, and soon could smell the drug store air of Wender & Roberts. The author bought 50¢ worth of gas at a Gulf station. Today, 50¢ might buy a tablespoon of gas. · “The Poetry Muscle exercises known as Meter Kegels have many advantages. They are best known to help strengthen and tone the whole poetic floor to prevent things like linguistic incontinence during middle age.” · as time goes by was a song in casablanca, you must remember this was a lyric, humphrey bogart was not a wank ah, in the wartime ginhouse owned by rick, when rick heard of gambling he was shocked shocked, i tell you that sort of thing never goes on, the broncos goal line stand tonight rocked, its one for jose and two for juan · Pictures today are from The Library of Congress Russell Lee took the social media picture in July 1942. “Rupert, Idaho. Former CCC camp now under FSA management. Japanese-Americans leaving camp for a visit to town.” · ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Kegels for Poets
I was fixing up an old post, Cemetery Blues. I went looking for a link to Dead Poets Remembrance Day, and I found an amusing comment from Annie Finch: “Unlike my recent “Kegels for Poets” post, this one is completely for real.”
I decided to look for KFP. Google and DuckDuckGo did not have a link. Finally, I found Exercises in improving the poetic orgasm… . This is one of the funnier ‘poetry’ blogs I’ve come across in a while…kinda old but still super cute…enjoy :) With the help of the Wayback Machine, I found KFP.
KFP turned out to be satire, and not especially funny. “The Poetry Muscle exercises known as Meter Kegels have many advantages. They are best known to help strengthen and tone the whole poetic floor to prevent things like linguistic incontinence during middle age.” I think I know why the original was deleted. The good news is the poems I found during the google search. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Collier took the social media picture in June 1942. “Escambia Farms, Florida. Truck loading eggs from cooperative association for market in Miami”
The Edgelord & His Meme Queen @StoutOfOrder
Sex starved and aging badly
Too many cigarettes and ‘dank ass weed’
Bad tattoos and facial hair so scraggly
He’s called in sick to work all week
He set his high score four years ago
But she broke his heart last June
Now he’s stuck in his parents basement
Doing speed runs on Halo 2
She has no cash to feed her cats
But she bought two wigs on Monday
She dresses up like anime girls
And thinks she’ll be famous someday
She’ll tell you she’s just keeping it real
While dressed like someone from science fiction
She meets the boy at some comic con
And they go to her hotel room to make friction …
Edgelords and meme queens
Addicted to the obscene
Spewing hateful words
With no care for what they mean
It seems that even the regals
Are doing their kegels
Kegels by Laura S. Marshall
the older i get the more i need to practice
conversation conflict containment
when cooking i set out the spices before i
start catalogue the measuring cups trace
the characters in the recipes in the mirror
i chant your name chant my own in the
shower for a month and a half i forget
what cinder blocks are called i forget
to collect the mail the mailbox tilts
at obscene angles obscures itself with
snow its red flag lolling letters leaking
i know this medicine won’t let me be
hungry so i practice hunger too i time
myself it’s three o’clock it’s time for
something three unleashes four and five
releases me to the murk of dusk before i
go to sleep i line up my pills so
in the morning i’ll remember
Even When I Win I Lose by Mike Lef
Sitting here in an adult diaper,
‘cancer free’ I’m told. Thumbing through
a booklet of kegel exercises
for men, this.
After nine long years, in and out of
specialist offices, batting around my prostate
like a handball.
I knew it would come to this from the get-go,
but foolishly fooled myself into believing otherwise,
cause.
Even when I win I lose,
that’s just
the way it is…….
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Unfamiliar Cultures
1023 – Reading Funny Papers, the path journal for last week, is now available wherever you get your stuff. … The walk today was a bit ordinary. I lasted for 48:49, with no foot problems. The entertainment was the rest of Stewart
Copeland, on The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan. “Cuz in rock and roll we don’t do music on the page. In fact, how do you get a guitarist to turn the volume down? Put a sheet of music in front of him.”
1024-1329 – Today’s walk was scary. I went to a neighboring street, anticipating a block party. My feet decided it was a good day to get dizzy. At the halfway point of the walk, I considered getting a uber to get home. I drank some water, and things got better. I was essentially undizzy by the time I got home, finishing with 1.32 miles in 39:40. … The first show was Is your new co-worker secretly North Korean? on Search Engine. Tech workers in North Korea are going abroad to work, and sending most of the money back home. If they don’t play ball, their families back home will be punished. “We have created a strange world, with strange problems.” The second show was Tootle of a Devilish Song on 99% Invisible. Yodeling evolved from lonely shepherds singing to their flock, to entertainment for tourists, to American country music.
1025-1154 – The walk today was a return to form. I did 39:59 with no foot trouble. The show today was Souvankham Thammavongsa Reads “Wall Cano” on The New Yorker: The Writer’s Voice . A ten year old Laotian refugee lives with her father and brother, after her mother leaves the family. The six story building they live in is very different from life in Laos. After that story was over, I listened to “Das Rheingold,” by Richard Wagner. It was a magic moment. The first act slowly got started, while I was walking downhill into the autumn sunshine and the leaves.
@NYerFiction Any man Mom talked to, our dad said, was a man trying to steal her. So it was our job to watch out for these men and make sure they didn’t come near our mom”: a story by Souvankham Thammavongsa in next week’s New Yorker.” @chamblee54 I look forward to hearing Deborah Treisman pronouncing that name. She is good at pronouncing names from unfamiliar cultures.
1026-1035 – Today’s walk is over. I felt some mild dizziness at the start of the first lap, and thought it was going to be bad. Fortunately, this faded fast, and I did 40:24 without any trouble. … I very quickly decided that two podcasts were not for me today. The first was Episode 329: An Attempted Trans Ratfracking In Texas on
Blocked and Reported. At 7:56, Katie said “This is a heavy trans episode,” and I turned off the episode. The trans issue is almost as boring as racism.
The second show was Redemption: The Nuns Who Visit Death Row on
Gone South. “Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright” started talking about growing up in a Texas superchurch. I left before the pastor got caught with his pants down. At this point, I took out the ear buds, and listened to the wisteria arguing politics with the english ivy.
1027 – Today’s walk was a disaster. The good news was that I did approximately 34:00, with no foot dizziness. … I found Cemetery Cleanup, a 2015 story that I wanted to repost. I decided to walk up to Nancy Creek Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. I had a new camera I wanted to try out. So far, so good. I went looking for an 8’ tall monument for Emily Goodwin. It had vines growing on it a few weeks ago. The vines have been cleared off the monument.
Several of the other Goodwin family graves were still covered with weeds, including Harris Goodwin, the husband of Emily Goodwin. Mr. Goodwin moved to Georgia in the early 1830, and was one of the first white residents in what became Brookhaven. Two of his sons, Gustin E Goodwin and Charles Harris Goodwin, died in the War Between the States. Charles is buried at NCPBCC.
I was exploring the back part of the cemetery, and having a great time. Then I had a disturbing thought. Yesterday, I had been raking leaves in my back yard, when I hit a nest of yellow jackets. I got stung in several places. What would happen if something similar happened while I was back in the mini-wilderness? … A few minutes later I stopped, put my bag on the ground, and took a hit off the water bottle. As I stood up, the left earbud fell out of my ear This was woods, with all sorts of nature covering the ground. After a half hour of looking, I realized that the ear bud was gone forever.
The show was Iggy Pop Part 1 and Iggy Pop Part 2 on Broken Record. James Newell Osterberg Jr. is considered a rock legend, for some reason or another. I saw him at 688, and am amazed that we are both alive 46 years later. Listening to Iggy’s tales of broken glass were an ironic counterpoint to searching for Charles Goodwin. … IP: “The MC5 were gonna go to Chicago to play during the big showdown at the convention. I think it was the Republican or Democratic Convention in Chicago, that resulted in the police beatings. They went to play in the park, and wanted the Stooges to come and do it. I said no, I’m not, that’s not us, that’s not me.” … IP: “My mother told me that … by the time I was six I already had 12 or 15 stitches in my chin.”
1028-1015 – Today’s walk was another day. After a bad dizzy incident at walmart last night, I did not know what to expect. When dizziness started on the second lap, I did not know what was going to happen. Fortunately, the dizziness stayed at a nuisance level, and I finished with 44:11. The show was EP-04 Exposing the Hart of The Great War on Hardcore History Addendum. “Dan (Carlin) and the British Imperial War Museum’s famed First World War historian Peter Hart talk about one of their favorite mutual interests…World War One.”
The show was released April 12, 2018, and made confusing references to “the Iraq war.”
1029-1035 – Today’s walk was 47:03 up and down the street, with a slight touch of dizziness. The podcast was Lonelyhearts and Misfits (The Bisexuals, Part 7) on You Must Remember This. Since there is no transcript, the stories today must be recreated from memory.
There is this thing in movie star stories. At first they are the latest young/pretty sensation. Then they hit their peak, and begin the long, slow decline. Today’s episode is about the decline of Libby Holman, Jane Bowles, and Monty Clift.
At one point, Truman Garcia Capote (born Truman Streckfus Persons) told about a conversation he had with Jane Bowles. YMRT said something that many people have wondered … Can you believe a word Truman Capote says? With TGC, it is not what he says, but the way he says it. … Monty starred in a cursed film, The Misfits. Part of the story is about cowboys catching wild mustangs, and selling them to dog food factories.
If you are interested in why I walk every morning, read The Path Journal, Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in March 1940. “Skiers from Boston, Massachusetts, relaxing in lodge at North Conway, New Hampshire”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Phone Calls From Jail
This content was posted October 7, 2020. … The uproar over Breonna Shaquille Taylor has cooled off a bit. Those who feel the need will continue to stir. Whatever inconvenient facts come along will be ignored. Cognitive dissonance, and narcotizing dysfunction, are real.
Louisville Metro Police Department compiled a 39 page report that was leaked to the press. Much of the report is transcripts of phone calls made from jail. The people in these calls do not look good. They argue, say the n-word, and generally act like a bunch of jerks. Jamarcus Cordell Glover, the primary person we are looking at today, was a known crack/fentynyl dealer. After a while, the reader is left with a feeling of disgust for the people in these calls. UPDATE: When you click on the link for the original report, you see “Sorry, the file you have requested has been deleted.” The internet archive does not have a copy. I was able to recreate this copy from notes I made in 2020. Somebody does not want you to see this report.
JCG was a former lover of Breonna Taylor. There were indications of a continuing business relationship. Was Breonna Taylor dealing drugs? It is tough to say. Were her hands clean? Almost certainly not. Associating with drug dealers is not a reason to be killed. However, it does make this sad occurrence much more likely.
“03/13/2020 – “PBI detectives … executed simultaneous search warrants at 2424 Elliott Avenue, 2425 Elliott Avenue, 2426 Elliott Avenue, and 3003 Springfield Drive #4 (see attached). During a search of 2424 Elliott Avenue, PBI detectives were able to recover a large amount of suspected crack cocaine and suspected Fentanyl pills … Jamarcus Glover, Demarius Bowman, Rayshawn Lee, and Alicia Jones were located at 2424 Elliott Avenue at the time the search warrants were executed. … When the search warrant was executed at 3003 Springfield Drive #4, which Breonna Taylor was listed on, an officer involved shooting (OIS) occurred and as a result Breonna Taylor was killed. Present inside the apartment at the time the search warrant was executed was Breonna Taylor and Kenneth Walker.” (De’marius Bowman is the brother of Fernandez Bowman, whose body was found in a car rented by Breonna Taylor on December 3, 2016)
JCG made a series of calls from jail on March 13. It should be noted that we don’t know if he is telling the truth in these calls. What follows are selected quotes from these calls.
08:52 – JCG calls Kiera Bradley, the mother of JCG’s child. See update below
KB – “Chop that girl got killed over you.”
09:27 – JCG calls KB
JCG – “I’m hurt my name gettin called about Bre’s death … This ***** (Kenneth Walker) in jail … this ***** got Bre dead … At the end of the day it was not my fault. It’s this *****’s fault that’s in here. The reason why it happened, the ***** is sittin right here.”
KB – “Okay did y’all talk or is he still on some defensive shit?”
JCG – “He said they were beating on the door.”
11:30 – JCG calls KB, tells her to put Domo (Dominique Crenshaw) on the line.
JCG – “What up Domo (Dominique Crenshaw) … Kenneth just got her killed *****. Sitting in this jail like it’s all good, like he’s straight, like it ain’t his fault.”
DC – “So he the one shooting the gun?”
JMG – “Yeah he shoots at the police, they shoot back, Bre in the hallway and she gets killed.”
12:27 – JCG calls KB
KB – “Everybody’s calling because they’re saying your baby momma got killed. … Her momma (Breonna Taylor’s mother) and the no limit crew… they basically like the ***** that she was fucking with got her all caught up … the no limit they don’t play.”
JCG – “Man I don’t care.”
KB – “I know you don’t care, you don’t care about shit.”
12:58 – JCG calls unknown female
JCG – “He (Kenneth Walker) said motherfuckers knocked on the door but he didn’t know who it was. They asked who it is but don’t nobody say nothin … He said they kicked that door and he “bocked” on them. He said they started shooting back and Bre was in the hallway and she caught bullets … Scott (Scott Barton – J. Glover’s attorney) know Bre, he know her, he been dealing with me and Bre the whole time I’ve been going through this shit.”
13:07 – JCG calls KB
They argue over him not being honest, and him having money at other people’s house.
JCG – “Why are you doing this?”
KB – “Cuz my feelings are hurt.”
JCG – “Why cuz the bread (money) was at her house?… This is what you got to understand, don’t take it wrong but Bre been handling all my money, she been handling my money… She been handling shit for me and cuz, it ain’t just me.”…
KB – “Motherfuckers are posting videos of you and all of that.”
JCG – “Who posts videos of me?”
KB – “This bitch (Breonna Taylor) where she’s been with you, since you ain’t been over at my house… the same day you post a picture I guess she post a video, you knew it because she said what’s up she was in the bed with you, you kissing all over her. This shit is embarrassing.”
16:27 – JCG calls KB
KB – “It ain’t even really about Bre because I already know… Motherfuckers done already gave me the blueprint … I know she was fuckin with you…You bounce back and forth between these bitches and I’m not doing none of that, it’s messy… That could have been me bro…”
JCG – “Could have been you because you around a *****?”
KB – “No because I’m around you … You bringin mess on yourself … You think a motherfucker trying to criticize you … You bring shit on yourself like the messiness, its how you move, how you’re so flamboyant, how you putting shit out … I don’t even know what I got myself into … You want me to text your side bitch Rica (Robrica Johnson)? She got gas to get up there to you? … You act like a motherfucker can’t be mad, I got your daughter and you tell me you got money somewhere else, when you’re out here risking your life and your freedom every motherfucking day, like I can call Bre and ask Bre to do anything for my daughter.”
17:20 – JCG calls Adrian Walker
AW – “I thought you said they found some money over there?”
JCG – “It was there, it was there, it was there… They didn’t do nothing though that’s the problem … Kenneth said ain’t none of that go on.”
AW – “So they didn’t take none of the money?”
JCG – “Kenneth said that none of that go on. He said Homicide came straight on the scene and they went to packaging Bre and they left.”
AW – “He said they didn’t announce themselves or something?”
JCG – “He sayin they wasn’t, he’s sayin they were just beating so hard.”
AW – “She was in the hallway?”
JCG – “In the hallway *****. That’s just so sad bruh. … “She (Breonna Taylor) gonna turn her back on me cause she love that ***** … that ***** did this shit. At the end of the day if I would have been at that house, Bre would be alive bruh … I don’t shoot at no police.”
17:58 – JCG calls KB
KB – “…You had Bre’s car on Valentine’s Day, we weren’t together …
You don’t care about nothing but the money.”
21:27 – JCG calls KB
JCG – “How you gonna bond that man out of jail? This shit happened because of this ***** (Kenneth Walker)… he fired shots at the police.”
KB starts arguing with J. Glover over what if the police would have run in her house last night, and he wasn’t going to be there, and she has their daughter…
JCG – “Bre, Bre.”
KB – “I’m Kiera, I’m Kiera.”
UPDATE: The link was not working. When I tried updating it, I found a story from 2023: Mother of deceased child involved in the Jamarcus Glover investigation is charged “Jamarcus Glover has been on the run for two weeks after he was bailed out of jail and failed to show up for court. … St. Matthews Police said their investigation began with the overdose death of a 13-year-old girl. They suspect the drugs belonged to Glover’s trafficking business. … one of the people who helped bail him out was the mother of the 13-year-old deceased child. Kiera Bradley, the mother, is now facing charges related to organized crime and trafficking fentanyl and cocaine. … St. Matthews Police say the 13-year-old victim overdosed at her mother’s apartment where Glover lived at the time.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in March 1940. “Postmaster waiting for train to arrive. Railway station, Mount Whittier, New Hampshire”
©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Ben & Jerry’s Social Justice Warfare
This content was published October 30, 2020. … @UncleHotep recently made a video, Ben & Jerry’s support for #BlackLivesMatter – Uncle Hotep chimes in. (The video is now private). It seems like the fudge ice cream packers have a new flavor, Empower Mint™.
I heard that, and remembered something I heard in church. The youth minister was preaching. America was in rebellion. Did you know that there is a car now, and one of the colors is antiestablish mint? I quit going to church soon after this.
As people familiar with AAVE (African American Vernacular English) know, white people and black people have different ways of pronouncing words. Take harassment. A white person might say huh RAS ment. A black person might say ha ras MINT. Arguably, naming an ice cream flavor Empower Mint™ is making fun of the way black people talk.
Ben and Jerry recently went on the social justice warpath. There was a tweet, and a website post, 7 Ways We Know Systemic Racism Is Real. Quotes were cited, statistics were regurgitated, and B&J boldly stated that america is not post racial. The frozen dessert consumer is encouraged to watch a video, take an implicit bias test, and talk to your kooky uncle.
The makers of Empower Mint™ are famously located in Vermont. According to the census bureau, the estimated population of Vermont is 626,042. This population is White 94.8%, Black 1.3%, Native American 0.4%, Asian 1.6%, mixed 1.9%. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Gordon Parks took the social media picture in February 1943. “Daytona Beach, Florida. Sunday morning street scene” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
Triangle Building
1024-0735. I’m on Century Boulevard, in front of some one story offices that have seen better days. I’m here to watch the execution of 1800 Century Boulevard, aka the Triangle building.
I drove past the glass triangle hundreds of times, and always thought it was cool. At first, there was a lake in front, with a sign saying not to disturb the swans during mating season. Eventually, the pressures of capitalism prevailed, and a little cluster of offices went up around a much smaller lake.
This is the building where 96 rock had their studio. The 8th floor corner pointing towards Shallowford Road was always lit, with a dj spinning the hits. One day in 1978, there was a man outside giving away tickets to see Neil Young at the Omni. Another time, I was making a delivery, and saw a crowd of people. I was the first person to get there after they ran out of tickets to see Black Sabbath.
At 0740, a police siren sounded, and everyone held their cell phones up. At 0748, the siren went off again. There was an orange fireball in the east corner, a few floors above the former 96 rock. In a few seconds, the triangle building was a cloud of dust. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Dorothea Lange took the social media picture in July 1937. “Washing facilities on a Greene County, Georgia, tenant farm” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah
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