Dog Park Drama
‘Dog Park Debbie’ calls cops on black man whose dog humped her dog This story is the clickbait delight of the day. The black man is Franklin Baxley, the owner of Dusse. The lady has been doxxed, and Google will be happy to tell you her name. Mr. Baxley is a former attorney.
This item appeared in the Pawtucket Times July 21, 2018. (The link to the information is sketchy. Google can direct you to the piece.) It might be another Franklin Baxley. “July 17, 2018 3:44am Franklin Lee Baxley 57 Decarolis Dr Tewksbury MA charged with two counts of felony assault and single counts of larceny under $1500, domestic simple assault, and domestic disorderly conduct.” UPDATE Mr. Baxley confirmed on facebook that he is the Franklin Baxley in this case.
Franklin Baxley posted several videos, of the incident, on facebook. In the best viral tradition, the videos begin in the middle of the drama. The viewer does not know what happened before the camera starts to roll. Mr. Baxley is not well behaved in these videos. In fact, he acts like an asshole. Mr. Baxley says “I bet if I was white you wouldn’t have called the cops.” He screams at the lady. When the lady tries to walk away, Mr. Baxley follows her, speaking in a loud, abusive manner. When the policeman arrives, Mr. Baxley lowers his voice, saying he was “talking like I’m talking to you.”
Franklin Baxley February 27 at 2:28 PM “Why did this lady just call the cops on me claiming my dog “assaulted” her dog when it tried to hump her dog” 6:32 PM “Here she is saying my dog assaulted her dog as her dog “assaults” my dog and she says nothing.” 11:22 PM“One more I forgot to post.” “I bet if I was white you wouldn’t have called the cops” “Here is the one where she starts behaving as if she is threatened by me and is accusing me of following her around the park as I am following my dogs like any other dog owner. I was annoyed, so I began mocking her. Sorry, not sorry.” This is the video where Mr. Baxley talks to the policeman.
When the policeman talks to Mr. Baxley, he tells him that leaving his car running is a violation. Why was the motor running in Mr. Baxley’s vehicle?
A witness says … “He drove in, let his dogs out of the car unleashed, dropped them off in the park, and went back into his car … he FLIPPED OUT ON HER, SCREAMING IN HER FACE claiming it was because he was black … the cops said he is well known for this and know him well….”
There is another version of the story. “There was an incident at the dog park with a patron who became belligerent and threatened someone. He refused to listen to anything regarding the ordinances. He became combative, the police were called, and he has been banned from the park. … He has posted his skewed version of the facts on facebook…”
Was the lady justified in calling the police? Did she call because of dog humping, or because she was afraid of a raving dog owner? Apparently no arrests were made. Unless the lady files a lawsuit, there should be no legal action. The social media sensation seekers are worked up, but that should be all that happens. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
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The Trial Of Lenny Bruce
Towards the end of his Booknotes chat, Nat Hentoff talked about censorship. As a journalist, his views were predictable.
Mr. HENTOFF: Any words at all. Words are–I mean, there is a great–there was a great scene in New York once when Lenny Bruce, who was a friend of mine, was on trial for his words. And Richard Cue, the assistant district attorney, was making a name for himself trying to blast all of the witnesses for the defense. And he got Dorothy Kilgallen, who was a very famous then syndicated columnist, a devout Catholic, a conservative and a great admirer of Lenny Bruce. And he con–he strung together, Cue did, all of the words in Lenny’s monologues that could be considered terribly offensive, and he hit her with them. It was a barrage. `What do you think then, Ms. Kilgallen?’ `Well,’ she said, `they’re words. They’re words. That’s all. Words.’ That’s the way I feel.
When PG heard this, he remembered reading about this trial. With the aid of Mr. Google, a transcript turned up. If you like to read about lawyers saying dirty words, this is the place for you.
Dorothy Kilgallen was, to put it mildly, a piece of work. She wrote for the N. Y. Journal American, and stepped on more than a few toes. A biography, Kilgallen, tells a few of the tales. Today, Miss Kilgallen is best known as one of the original panelists on “Whats My Line?”
The People v Lenny Bruce (Cafe Au Go Go Trial) was tried June 16, 1964 to July 28, 1964 in New York City. The Per Curium Opinion of Judge John Murtagh sets the tone. “All three performances of the defendant, Lenny Bruce, were obscene, indecent, immoral and impure within the meaning of Section 1l40-a of the Penal Law. While no tape is available as to the first performance [past midnight, March 31-April 1], this monologue, according to the testimony, was essentially the same as that of the second [April 1, after 10:00 p.m.] and third [April 7, after 10:00 p.m.] performances. In the latter two performances, words such as “ass,” “balls,” “cock-sucker,” “cunt,” “fuck,” “mother-fucker,” “piss,” “screw,” “shit,” and “tits” were used about one hundred times in utter obscenity. The monologues also contained anecdotes and reflections that were similarly obscene.
Dorothy Kilgallen was called as an “expert witness”. In lawyerly fashion, the prosecutor claimed she was not a genuine expert. After her credentials were established, there were questions like “Will you tell us what the artistry, or the social value, or the merit, or the good is, in the Bruce story of sexual intercourse with a chicken?” After the testimony described by Mr. Hentoff, Miss Kilgallen talks about something that does offend her.
Q. I wouldn’t take much time, but we did discuss before Lenny Bruce’s use of the words ‘mother fucker’ at his audience. Can you tell me when James Jones or Norman Mailer or Arthur Miller has called his audience ‘mother fucker?’
Mr. Garbus: Your Honor, may I object? We are talking about books against monologue. It’s completely an irrelevant question.
Judge Murtagh: We will allow it. Objection overruled.
A. I can’t tell you anything verbatim from the books, because I read them a couple of years ago or more. I would imagine–this would be my best guess–that they did not call their audiences anything. There’s another book called The Naked Lunch which I couldn’t even finish reading, but it’s published, and I think the author should be in jail and he used–
Q. Unfortunately we can’t do everything at once, Miss Kilgallen. Are you judging the non-obscene quality and the artistic quality of Bruce by the fact that The Naked Lunch is a book which, as of this date, is sold in the community?
A. No, I’m not. I just mentioned it because you asked me for some books.
Q. And The Naked Lunch is a book you found impossible to read, is that correct?
A. Yes, I found it revolting.
Q. What was revolting about it?
A. Just the way it was written.
Mr.Garbus: Objection, your Honor.
Judge Murtagh: Objection overruled.
A. It seemed to use words for shock value, not for any valid reason, and I object to that.
Q. And when Lenny Bruce–I ask you to turn to the April 1st tape . . . and read the portion starting–‘tits and ass, that’s what is the attraction, is just tits and ass and tits and ass’–and goes on all through the page, and ask you if you find some shock value in that?
A. No, I don’t think it’s particularly shocking, it’s just a word.. . .
Q.. Do you, in your column, use the words tits and ass?
A. Never.
Q. You know exactly what Lenny Bruce was talking about?
A. Yes. . . . I think there he’s being critical of the monotony of what is on view in Las Vegas.
Dorothy Kilgallen died November 8, 1965. Lenny Bruce died August 3, 1966. Kilgallen biographer Lee Israel was convicted of selling forged celebrity letters. Nat Hentoff died January 7, 2017. This is a repost. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These images are Union soldiers from the War Between the States. The spell check suggestion for Kilgallen: Millennial.
Was Mohandas Gandhi A Racist?
A meme appeared on facebook, “GHANDI’S 7 DANGERS TO HUMAN VIRTUE.” Below the misspelled name were seven concepts, written in all caps. This got PG thinking.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (M.K. Gandhi) “was born was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, a small town on the western coast of India.” At some point the title Mahatma was applied, and is often used as though it was his name. Exact transliterations between languages using different alphabets is tricky. What is the “correct” spelling of this man’s last name? Most sources today use Gandhi.
Another term, Gandhiji, turns up in the research. “‘Ji’ in Hindi or Urdu is a suffix used after the names of respectable persons and elders like father and mother. It is used every day by millions of Indians to address their elders. Hence Gandhiji is but Mahatma Gandhi,father of our nation,addressed reverently and respectfully. We call mother mataji. Mata means mother.”
The quote in the meme is real. It is found on page 135 of Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol. 33. It was in an article found in Young India on October 22, 1925.
“SEVEN SOCIAL SIN The same fair friend wants readers of Young India to know, if they do not already, the following seven social sins: Politics without principles, Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice. Naturally, the friend does not want the readers to know these things merely through the intellect but to know them through the heart so as to avoid them.”
The next entry in the collected works is interesting. “79. THAT ETERNAL QUESTION However much I may wish to avoid it, the Hindu-Muslim question will not avoid me. Muslim friends insist upon my intervention to solve it. The Hindu friends would have me discuss it with them and some of them say I have sown the wind and must reap the whirlwind.”
The meme had comments. Lloyd Lachow Gandhi was intensely racist. Joanne Gibson Gandhi was not intensely racist. Fighting racism was his first cause. John Janiga Gandhi racist??? John Taylor Lloyd, were you born an idiot, or did you have to work at it?
This looks like a job for Mr. Google. When you type the phrase “Is Gandhi,” suggested searches include “sill alive” and “on netflix.” This does not help if you want to know if someone is racist.
Mr. Gandhi lived in South Africa from 1893-1915. During this time he was offended at the treatment of Indian nationals, which led to a decision to fight for Indian rights. Unfortunately, these rights were not to be extended to the native South Africans.
… there’s no doubting that Gandhi had little time for black people. During his 21 years in South Africa, he repeatedly expressed contempt for the native population, claiming they were no better than the “untouchables” of Indian society. One speech in particular stands out. In 1896, he was quoted as referring to black South Africans as the “raw kaffir, whose occupation is hunting and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with, and then pass his life in indolence and nakedness.” For those of you who aren’t up on your South African slang, “kaffir” is a direct equivalent of our N-word. Another time, he complained about finding himself in a “kaffir” prison, claiming Indians were “above” natives, who “are troublesome, very dirty and live like animals.”
There is the story of the Durban Post Office. “The first major accomplishment of the Natal Indian Congress was to further entrench racial segregation into South African society during a time of massive racial strife. At the time, the Durban, South Africa post office had two doors. One was for whites and the other for Indians and black natives. Gandhi was so disgusted at having to share a door with blacks that he initiated a campaign for the creation of a third door. … A year later, after the issue had already been resolved, Gandhi chose to expound upon his reasons for raising it in the first place. In his August 14, 1896 letter, “The Grievances of the British Indians in South Africa: An Appeal to the Indian Public,” he called being “put on the same level with the native” a “disability.”
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Fifteen Minutes
Andy Warhol is quoted as saying that “in the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.” This has become a popular saying. If a celebrity is getting tiresome, people will wonder when their fifteen minutes will be up. After hearing about fifteen minutes his entire life, PG began to wonder if Drella really said that. If you can’t be cynical about Andy Warhol…
Wikipedia is a good place to start. “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” … appeared in the program for a 1968 exhibition of his work at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden. Photographer Nat Finkelstein claimed credit for the expression, stating that he was photographing Warhol in 1966 for a proposed book. A crowd gathered trying to get into the pictures and Warhol supposedly remarked that everyone wants to be famous, to which Finkelstein replied, “Yeah, for about fifteen minutes, Andy.” Nat Finkelstein was a sketchy character, in the Warhol tradition. His version is suspect. The Swedish museum part is real.
“Andy Warhol’s first European museum solo show took place at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm from February through March 1968. Pontus Hultén curated the exhibition together with Olle Granath. The exhibition came with a catalogue that was, like the show, named ‘Andy Warhol’. Kasper König, who worked for the Moderna Museet as an intern of sorts in New York, developed a basic concept for the book. … After Warhol had given his approval to this first proposal, König proceeded to create a dummy. … When König returned his dummy to the Factory, Warhol scrutinized it carefully but made only a small number of changes. Contrary to what Warhol wanted to be popular belief, those who produced input at the Factory were carefully monitored. … The final edits on the dummy were made in Stockholm by Olle Granath. He compiled a small selection of Warhol quotes and aphorisms from a stack of books and clippings collected by Hultén and placed them in the book as an introduction before the image sections.”
“Sometime in the autumn of 1967, Pontus Hultén called and asked me if I (Olle Granath) could help him and the Moderna Museet to organize an Andy Warhol exhibition that was due to open in February…. An important part of the exhibition was the production of a book. It was not supposed to be an analytical catalog of Warhol’s work, but a book that conveyed his aesthetics without heavy texts. … One day, Pontus brought me a box, almost the size of a Brillo box, and told me that it contained everything written by and about Andy Warhol (today the equivalent would probably be two truck loads). My job was to read it all and present a proposal for a manuscript with Swedish translations. After a couple of nights of reading and taking notes I delivered a script to Pontus and awaited his reaction with great anticipation. ‘Excellent,’ Pontus said when he called me, ‘but there is a quotation missing.’ ‘Which one?’ I said. ‘In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,’ Pontus replied. ‘If it is in the material I would have spotted it,’ I told him. The line went quiet for a moment, and then I heard Pontus say, ‘If he didn’t say it, he could very well have said it. Let’s put it in.’ So we did, and thus Warhol’s perhaps most famous quotation became a fact.”
“The exhibition in Stockholm attracted a relatively small number of visitors, due to the extremely cold winter, but also to the fact that leftist radicalization increasingly drove the Museets public to mistrust anything American or consumerist. There was no space yet for a more complex reading of Warhol’s relation to consumption. The book, however, became very popular: its enormous edition allowed it to be distributed in nightclubs and record stores, not only museums. A timeless update on the latest from New York, it first became a cult object, then a collectors item.”
Did Andy say that? Probably, but not definitely. Andy was shot by Valerie Jean Solanas on June 3, 1968, a few months after the show in Sweden. Andy survived, and had fifteen more minutes. Pictures today are from Pictures are from The Library of Congress. The 1927 pictures were taken at “California Beauty Week, Mark Hopkins Hotel, July 28 to Aug. 2, auspices of San Francisco Chronicle.”
Craziest Rumors About David Bowie’s Sex Life
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Every “Black movie” gets this same criticism when it gets too much praise. It was the same with “Get Out”. It’s the convenient way of saying, “I’m not comfortable with Black movies getting this much praise. It HAS to be ‘affirmative action’, bc nothing they do can be better.”
@chamblee54 @GlennLoury @JohnHMcWhorter In thirty years, will gratuitous trash talk about white people be seen the same way that we see blackface today?
The B.E.E. Podcast – 2/8/19 – Logan Marshall-Green – SILVER
Story about Hendrix meeting Clapton
Philip K. Dick – A Day In The Afterlife (complete)
Sale of WSB-TV heralds big changes in Atlanta media scene
Alabama newspaper editor calls for Klan return to ‘clean out D.C.’
Man Who Died in Democratic Donor Ed Buck’s Home Called Him ‘The Devil’
My five favourite language podcasts
The Craziest Rumors About David Bowie’s Sex Life, Ranked
Do We Write Differently on a Screen?
How a Dispute Over the N-Word Became a Dispiriting Farce I like to substitute racist for the magic word, with surprising results. “You can only be destroyed by believing that you really are what the white world calls a racist.”
James Baldwin And The Six Letter Word
Why People of Color Need Spaces Without White People
I’M NOT A LIBERAL SNOWFLAKE MY FEELINGS AREN’T FRAGILE
Disgraceland’s Jake Brennan Gives the Dirty Details
Dorothea Lange’s Censored Photographs of Japanese Camps
@JohnFugelsang“I’d rather be hated for who I am than be remembered for one line everyone retweets on my birthday.” – Kurt Cobain
How to Swear Like a 19th-Century Sailor
Atlanta Beltline Announces Acquisition of ‘Key’ Westside Property For $5.1 Million
What Happened to Kennedy’s Brain
Nick Sandmann’s Lawyers May Have Just Cost Him Millions with a Rookie Mistake
How Harry Anslinger Started The War on Drugs | Joe Rogan & Johann Hari
What I Want to Know Is Why You Hate Porn Stars
The B.E.E. Podcast – 2/22/19 – Dennis Cooper
Noted Sexist Bret Easton Ellis is also Probably a Little Racist
The Worst Thing About Bret Easton Ellis’s Racist Rant
Black Panther “is being shoved down our throats” says American Psycho author
The verb is the coat rack that the rest of the sentence hangs on
Bret Easton Ellis Questions ‘Black Panther’ Oscar Nomination for Best Picture
St. Simeon the Holy Fool @SimeonTheFool ~ This is one damn sexy koala
Real Heroes of Stonewall: Danny Garvin – Stonewall Riots In His Own Words
The banking capital that Georgia lawmakers created — in Charlotte
Phil Johnson, Grace to You Testimony video
Modern Times: Camille Paglia & Jordan B Peterson
Big Girl Panties ~ Michael Harriot: Root of racism ~ Atlanta Is the Real Wakanda
Allusionist 94. Harsh Realm ~ Dennis Cooper ~ trump meme
Bernie Sanders, It’s Over ~ billie holiday stories ~ beneath the ballpark
Sandmann complaint ~ Phillip C. Adamo ~ that word that word
minute anagrams as in mute ~ We absorb a story different when we listen to someone read it, as opposed to silently reading it. ~ Bernie 2020 It’s His Turn ~ @donnellrawlings said at the end of the day those people should respect each other and be able to share a laugh … the live feed quit working ~ In the Brooklyn debate, someone asked Bernie how to keep jobs from going to other countries. The jobs are going abroad because wages are lower abroad. Bernie’s answer, to the question of how to keep jobs from going abroad because of lower wages, was to raise the minimum wage in the USA. ~ @RealCandaceO “We have finally reached a point in America where the demand of racism is higher than the supply. ~ What would Jesus Sue? ~ If you don’t like being called a racist, then you need to quit being a racist thirty years ago. ~ Tua eruditione praestantem es minus habens. Cede studere historia. ~ Your scholarship is not good enough. Please go to study history. ~ Συμβούλιο της Νικαίας δεν συζήτησε τον κανόνα της Βίβλου. Αυτή είναι η ταπεινοφροσύνη επειδή είναι αλήθεια. Η αλαζονεία λέει “Ιησούπου”. Σε ευχαριστώ για την προσπάθεια σου. ~ The Council of Nicaea did not discuss the Bible rule. This is humility because it is true. Arrogance says “Jesus”. Thank you for your effort. ~ אַל־ תַּ֣עַן כְּ֭סִיל כְּאִוַּלְתֹּ֑ו פֶּֽן־ תִּשְׁוֶה־ לֹּ֥ו גַם־ אָֽתָּה׃ ~ Do not give it to the people, but to the people of the land. ~ I am throwing in the translator You win You will collect your winnings when the cardboard cookies are finished baking ~ statistics anagrams as tits is cats, or tits tic ass ~ @PhoenixRemnant @bizzimomma2 ~ what not to say to a friend with a mental health problem was read last night at 7 stages theater. This was the first appearance there in 2019 part one part two
i always knew you had a problem there ~ need to get out more its all in your mind
you’re not pushing yourself enough to care ~ no one ever said life was fair or kind
things aren’t that bad could be so much worse ~ but you have nothing to worry about
your own damn fault you don’t have to curse ~ nothing wrong with you chill the fuck out
you just have a negative attitude ~ sounds like you are going crazy dude
stop complaining all the time please grow up ~ quit looking for attention buttercup
go snap out of it i never get bored ~ get over yourself do you know the lord
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Negro sawmill workers getting some lunch in the back of a grocery store in Franklin. Heard County, Georgia The photographer was Jack Delano. The pictures were made in April 1941 ~ selah
Jeeziepoo
This is the story of a twitfest. The topic of discussion was the bible. If you are not interested, you can skip over the text, and look at the pictures. These pictures are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the pictures in November, 1940. The pictures were taken in Connecticut.
@wartwatch The only thing that matters veto these churches is $$$$$. They must be sued and they must pay a penalty in order to make an impact.
@chamblee54 What would Jesus Sue?
@SimeonTheFool If only there was some way to know for sure whether Jesus would approve of causing financial damage on religious leaders who made money by exploiting others. Like, if He’d ever famously done it Himself or something….
@chamblee54 “only there was some way to know for sure”
Everything that Jesus did, or did not do, is legend. Everything.
The only things we know about Jeeziepoo are what the council of nicea chose to tell us.
@SimeonTheFool Tua eruditione praestantem es minus habens. Cede studere historia. (Your scholarship is not good enough. Please go to study history.)
@chamblee54 Your arrogance is not good enough. Please go to study humility.
@SimeonTheFool Το Συμβούλιο της Νικαίας δεν συζήτησε τον κανόνα της Βίβλου. Αυτή είναι η ταπεινοφροσύνη επειδή είναι αλήθεια. Η αλαζονεία λέει “Ιησούπου”. Σε ευχαριστώ για την προσπάθεια σου. (The Council of Nicaea did not discuss the Bible rule. This is humility because it is true. Arrogance says “Jesus”. Thank you for your effort.)
@chamblee54 you have been educated beyond your ability to use knowledge in a meaningful way
אַל־ תַּ֣עַן כְּ֭סִיל כְּאִוַּלְתֹּ֑ו פֶּֽן־ תִּשְׁוֶה־ לֹּ֥ו גַם־ את׃ (This is apparently backwards.)
@chamblee54 Do not give it to the people, but to the people of the land. I am throwing in the translator You win You will collect your winnings when the cardboard cookies are finished baking
@SimeonTheFool “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you become like him.”
@chamblee54 this religious argument has now moved into the personal insult phase I must be dealing with christians
@wartwatch I used to read over at ExChristians They do a pretty good job with insults as well. 😇
@chamblee54 This will teach me not to make a joke about a beloved xtian cliche
At this point I made a mistake. I went for a walk, and thought about this conversation.
@chamblee54 one point has not been challenged… whether it was the council of nicea, or the 7 ecumenical councils, there was a human gatekeeper Some humans chose the texts to include in the bible This is the primary source of stories about jesus christian insults cannot change that
@SimeonTheFool Sorry, but you’re misinformed. Basic history facts: 1. The Council of Nicea was one of the 7 Ecumenical Councils (the first), not “or.” 2. The canon of Scripture was not discussed at any of them. 3. Paul’s epistles as well as the four gospels predate all of them by centuries.
@chamblee54 ok who decided what texts go in the bible? was it man or g-d? there were many texts, other than the letters of paul, that were not included. Who made this decision?
@chamblee54 you did not answer my question there were dozens of texts which were not included in the canon who chose these texts?
@SimeonTheFool Oh, but I did answer your question. The answer is, “Go do your own homework.”
This debate raged on, long past the point of being either educational or entertaining. St. Simeon the Holy Fool claims to have a PhD from a “large secular state university.” If you are interested, you can use one of the links in this feature to join in the fun.
One other celebrant chimed in. This is a recent convert to twitterism. They have a handful of followers, and have not made any original tweets.
@MRWiggins2 So if this is the case, if everything’s just pure legend, nonsense, myth, why do you even care to speculate as to who He would sue? I dare say, sir, you are a bit confused.
@chamblee54 that was a parody of “what would jesus do”
@MRWiggins2 When a fool gets rolling, just get out of their way. Luther’s one of these people not clever enough to realize he’s not clever. Dangerous thing, when you are essentially a combo platter of arrogance and ignorance.
@MRWiggins2 You can’t even communicate at a mediocre level. Mea culpas if you’re a 13 year old boy in the nascent stage of his rebellion phase. Otherwise, please learn to write & reason. Don’t just be a confirmation of the stereotype of the atheist not smart enough to see they’re not smart.
@chamblee54 as opposed to xtians whose conversation turns into puerile insults instinctively
@chamblee54 you talk pretty good for a person who has not tweeted yet
@MRWiggins2 I didn’t know that was a requirement. I’m not a big social media guy.
@MRWiggins2 Au contraire. I don’t claim to understand the workings of the universe,
I just know Jesus saved me–a small, ignorant thing who doesn’t even understand his teenagers.
OTOH, those who claim there is no God must be supernaturally knowledgeable to make such an extraordinary claim. (At no time in this discussion did I discuss the reputed existence of g-d.)
Non-Racist Or Anti-Racist
There is a tasteful bit of white guilt porn on the innertubes. The video is from the Guardian, a British enterprise. Are you racist? ‘No’ isn’t a good enough answer. The transcript has 365 words, one for each day of the year. The word for today is and. The most recent tally shows 4,714,039 views on facebook, which does not pay royalties.
The talk is an exercise in semantics. Either you are non-racist, or anti-racist. The possibilities that you are a known-racist is not considered, as is the concept that attitudes about race are nobody else’s business. The speaker, Marlon James, instructs the listener that you MUST be anti-racist. Nothing else will do. This means that you must take some type of action against racism. What exactly you are supposed to do is not specified, but you need to do something.
Mr. James lists five points that the mythical non-racist uses to justify their non-ness. “I’m not a bigot. I don’t sing that ’n’ word when my favorite rap jam comes on. I didn’t vote for that guy. I’m not burning any crosses. I’m not a skinhead.” From these five nots, a certain lifestyle emerges. “What you end up with is an entire moral stance, an entire code for living your life and dealing with all the injustice in the world by not doing a damn thing. That’s the great thing about “non-”: you can put it off by simply rolling over in your bed and going to sleep. So why are you sitting at home and watching things unfold on TV instead of doing something about it? Because you’re a non-racist, not an anti-racist.” Or maybe you are an uncle-racist, and auntie-racist won’t let you do anything.
At no point is a course of anti-racist action suggested. Should you go block traffic on the interstate? Should you vilify a member of your community who expresses incorrect opinions on facebook? Should you go to the state capitol, and talk to your representative about laws you are not familiar with? Exactly what are you supposed to do? Will this action do more harm than good? Is this action any of your business? Do you know what you are talking about? Maybe the effect of your action is not important, as long as you are doing something.
The monolog takes a strange turn now. “Now, do this for me: take the “c” out of racist and replace it with a “p”. “I’m not a rapist. I’m not friends with any rapist. I didn’t buy that rapist’s last album.” All these things that you’re not doing. Meanwhile, people are still getting raped, and black boys are being killed. It’s not enough that you don’t do these things.”
Ok, so now we need to take meaningless action against rape, and black boy murder. Again, what are you supposed to do? There is also the matter of privilege. Is it really the white person’s business that black boys are shooting other black boys? And what are we supposed to do about this? Maybe you can say rude things about police. Whatever you do, say #blacklivesmatter instead of #alllivesmatter.
The video comes to a merciful end with the words “We need to stop being “non-” and start being “anti-”. Or take action against glamorous issues that have no effect on most people, but make you feel good to talk about. The Academy Award nominations have been announced, and not enough POC have been nominated. We can take action on twitter, as this tweet illustrates. #oscarssowhite that pointed hoods will be included in the swag bags this year.
The pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These details are from picture #06666, documenting “First Internation[al] Pageant of Pulchritude & Seventh Annual Bathing Girl Review at Galveston, Texas.” It was taken in 1926. This is a repost.
43 Writers Who Got High
A lady called Jaimes has a local blog, and today she decided to write something uplifting. She chose as a subject a photo essay by Life magazine about “Life with Mother“. The Life feature she almost wrote about was “Famous Literary Drunks and Addicts“. PG thinks there is too much uplift in the world already, and decided to write about the literary boozers. The links shown above no longer work. Some of the details in this piece cannot be verified.
Writing can be a lonely affair, with long nights spent wringing words out of the soul. Of course, the more social arts of theatre and music produce a lot of people who cannot control their substances. (Is there anything like the phrase “controlled substances”?) Getting back to the wordsmith, writing and getting high have always gone together, and not always for the better.
There are 43 names on this list. To peruse the Life feature, you have to click once for every new name, which is a lot of work. You get to see a picture of each one, but, with a few exceptions, these guys are fugly. Alcohol, heroin, indoor desk work, and the inevitable cigarettes do not lead to pretty faces. Anne Sexton was a model before a suicide poet, and F. Scott Fitzgerald did photograph well. To some, Charles Bukowski is a sex symbol. If you feel like working the mouse and seeing all the people, that is your choice. If you can find a cached copy of the post, please leave a link in the comments.
Many of the names on this list are obvious. Ernest Hemingway, Tennesee Williams, and F. Scott Fitzgerald are noted fans of altered consciousness. Dashiell Hammet lived for 30 plus years with Lillian Hellman, which might be a good reason to drink. And Truman Capote, among other things, did not suffer false modesty. “I’m an alcoholic. I’m a drug addict. I’m homosexual. I’m a genius.”
The beatnik/hippie/punk continuum is well represented. William S. Burroughs gave lie to the saying that there are no old junkies. (A surprising number here lived to a ripe old age.) Richard Brautigan and Hunter S. Thompson just would not be themselves in a twelve step program. And Jack Kerouac was staying with Neal Cassidy, and wife, while working on his early novels. Cassidy thought Kerouac smoked too much marijuana.
The list is weighted heavily towards white males. Only six women made the list, and James Baldwin is the only person of color. Ayn Rand was a bit of a surprise…the lady, who allegedly copped her pen name from a typewriter, was a speed fan. Another surprise was Stephen King. The horror meister is a cocaine fan, and is one of the few authors that can afford a hobby like that.
Perhaps the best comment comes from Edna St. Vincent Millay .”My candle burns at both ends / It will not last the night / But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends / It gives a lovely light!” This is a repost, with pictures from The Library of Congress.
Freight Train Stories
One night in 1980, Mark and I took some acid. Later, we got some beer. After that was gone, we scraped together what money we had, and got another six pack. We were in the woods behind the Caldwell Village Apartments, where Post Brookhaven is today. In those pre-Marta days, the entire section had easy access to the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.
A freight train stopped on the tracks. An empty boxcar was open. Mark and I got in the boxcar, and Mark said he was going to ride in it. I did not want to, but I did not want to leave Mark by himself. Then the boxcar started to move. It was a grand ride, over the trestle at Peachtree Creek, and on into the city. One empty beer bottle after another went out the open door.
The next thing I remember, a man was shaking me awake. He said that he was sorry that I lost my glasses, that he knew they cost a lot of money. He led us out of the boxcar toward a Ford LTD. He made sure I saw the pistol, in a holster on his belt. He took a blanket, and spread it out over the back seat of the LTD.
We were in a rail yard just west of downtown. I was able to manage the bus ride back to civilization without my glasses. Neither Mark nor I said a word the entire time.
Twenty five years later, I was walking up to Lowes, on Peachtree Industrial. A freight train was sitting on the tracks. I was too lazy to walk to the overpass, and decided to climb on the train. The plan was to cross the tracks. While I was on the back on the train, it started to move. While the train was still going slow, I jumped off. I managed to not get hurt. I have not been on a freight train since then. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Read
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@JonathanLKrohn This is quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever read. The person who wrote this should be barred from ever writing again. If you could burn emails, I would recommend burning this one with a blow-torch, and scattering the ashes deep in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean.
@GeorgeWHerbert It was the most unexpected outcome: Thousands of attendees expecting wailing and woe confronted by outbreak of Fairies. Under the influence of Fairy Dust, they found Joy. And the day continued to get worse from there…
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The PR email for Meghan Trainor’s new album is absolutely insane
Why Is This Meghan Trainor Press Release So Horny?
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Lets put another fable to rest. The people who voted for Trump were in economic trouble. It was not about racism. Repeat this… IT WAS NOT RACISM The elitists making snide comments about “economic anxiety” are part of the problem. ~ You are blocked from following @JebBoone and viewing @JebBoone’s Tweets. ~ You are blocked from following @MetroATLDSA and viewing @MetroATLDSA’s Tweets. ~ Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
Smashing Bae’s Junk To Smithereens
@JonathanLKrohn “This is quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever read. The person who wrote this should be barred from ever writing again. If you could burn emails, I would recommend burning this one with a blow-torch, and scattering the ashes deep in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean.” This got PG’s attention on a boring Saturday. It actually was value added comment to a re-tweet.
“The PR email for Meghan Trainor’s new album is absolutely insane” was the seminal offering. @WizzKhaleesi had a screen shot of the special text. “”hot newlywed sex Meghan and Daryl Sa-BAE-ra are having (did you see what we did there?). Which is why you’ll love the banging’ single “All The Ways.” Billboard was wet for “All The Ways,” calling it “another fun, danceable track to fall in love with.” And would Billboard lie to you, girl?
But perhaps the piece de resistance (that’s French for “Wig Snatch”) is “Marry Me,” a romantic acoustic guitar and ukulele-tinged Awww Fest which delivers all the feels (and then more feels). Meghan wrote the song thirty days after meeting Daryl, and it was so good that she walked down the aisle to it. We know, it’s a little bit #Vomworthy, but also, am I chopping onions right now or are those tears rolling down my face?”
PG saw this purple prose, and felt the need to make a statement. The result was a blackout poem. “But Wig Snatch all the feels We know chopping onions.” As a wise man once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
Who is Meghan Trainor? Why Is This Meghan Trainor Press Release So Horny? has the text of the PR sensation. The first sentence will live forever. “Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and whether you’re planning on smashing bae’s junk to smithereens or making out with a pint of Phish Food, you need some fresh Valentine’s Day bops to get you in the mood for L♡VE.”
Help, This Meghan Trainor Press Release Is Haunting My Nightmares piles on with glee. “This happened with Thinx underwear’s deranged series of press releases, which used phrases like “Hey squirrelfran” and “astronaughty booty” in an effort to sell period underwear.”
Caroline Goldfarb claims to have written the Trainor train wreck. (Don’t let your mouse hover over the background of that page.) @hairoline A lot of people absolutely HATE the press release I wrote for Meghan Trainor and claim it seems like “a horny 12 year old with no writing experience” must have written it. Jokes on them because I’m actually a horny 28 year old with *some* writing experience @hairoline Trivia: The original draft had a line about Meghan buying sex toys with the ginger from Spy Kids but they took it out @hairoline I just had to block someone who said I deserved the electric chair for writing the horny Meghan Trainor press release, but jokes on them, cause I’m the one who got paid to say “smash bae’s junk to smithereens”
Jonathan L. Krohn had fifteen minutes of fame before he was fifteen years old. He is a journalist now, living in “Iraq and ATL, mostly.” Pictures for this post are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the pictures in April, 1941. “Singing “Trying to Make a Hundred, Ninety-Nine and a Half Won’t Do” during the collection at Negro church in Heard County, Georgia”
Unfollow
For now, facebook is a part of my routine. It is a handy way to know about events, and keep up with people. Unfortunately, many of those people are generous with their opinions. Sometimes, if you want to keep your sanity, you need to limit exposure to these opinions.
You have several options. The one I prefer is unfollow. You go into the inner workings, and click “unfollow Whatshisname.” You will no longer see this person’s opinions. This is preferred to unfriend. The person you unfriend will know that you have kicked them out of your life.
Some people like to unfriend, and block, to punish people. You say something they don’t like, and they get even with you by unfriending you. This is pathetic.
The problem with unfriending is the permanence. Long after the original slight has been forgotten, the person will see that you have kicked them out. There are people I once respected, who have decided to throw me to the curb. No matter how nice they are to me, I will always know they unfriended me. Life is tough enough without this distraction.
Several of the people I unfollowed continue to be a worthwhile part of my life. The last three words I saw from one such person was “your racist family.” My peace of mind will not allow me to have such poison in my life. A couple of months later, I was a guest in his apartment. Should I let his prejudice get in the way? Or should I unfollow him, and move on?
This meme is a recent reason to unfollow. It is a cartoon, with the title “MANY WHITE AMERICANS FAIL TO ASSIMILATE.” It is a gratuitous commentary on racial values. In the top right panel, a man is driving a truck. The Confederate battle flag is flying. The radio plays “And this bird you cannot change,” helpfully labeled “TRADITIONAL FOLK MUSIC.”
I am not a big Lynyrd Skynyrd fan, but I enjoy “Free Bird.” Given the elastic definition of the slur, some people probably think “Free Bird” is racist. Rock and roll started out as “race music.” White people learned how to rock, and made numerous improvements. It is essential americana … the not always comfortable blending of black and white. If you want to see another example, check out this song. The spell check suggestion for Lynyrd Skynyrd is Lyndon Skyward.
This cartoon will not affect police brutality, or enable economic equity. What it does is make fun of lower class white americans. It is not worthy of the person who posted this meme. While I do not wish to publicly distance myself from this person, I cannot subject myself to this poison. When you make fun of Lynyrd Skynyrd, you make fun of me.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The Alabama pictures were taken in 1941, by Jack Delano. Washington DC pictures were taken in July 1941, by Jack Delano.
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