Made Myself Stupid
“So many times I’ve made myself stupid with the fear of being outsmarted.” James Richardson (b. 1950) “Vectors: 56 Aphorisms and Ten-second Essays” Michigan Quarterly Review, #17 (Spring 1999) Wish I’d Said That put this up on twitter. I made a copy of the 56AATSE.
It sat ignored on my desktop. until this morning. I was looking for something to work with, and started to pick out aphorisms that spoke to me. The first two to make the cut were #3 and #5, which are key players in the fibonacci sequence. Why not just eliminate all the players, except for the f-numbers? Then use those actors as a writing prompt.
First, we need to look into James Richardson. Turns out he is a recently retired English Professor at Princeton. A princeton.edu document has stories about Dr. Richardson: “Some of his colleagues in English will remember how, as department secretary, he recorded the minutes of meetings in rhyming couplets. … Jim is a philosopher-poet in the tradition of … his fellow baseball fan, Walt Whitman.” Apparently, Jim is a Yankees fan, which we can foregive.
1 “No matter how fast you travel, life walks.” Dr. Richardson is fond of semantics.
2 “Desire’s most seductive promise is not pleasure but change, not that you might possess your object but that you might become the one who belongs with it.” Ditto.
3 “There are silences harder to take back than words.” This is the first one that was noteworthy. This does not mean that I agree. Sometimes, the best thing to say is nothing at all. This goes against a commodity wisdom crowd-pleaser. “The Only Thing Necessary for the Triumph of Evil is that Good Men Say Nothing.” As Mike Hunt once said, “Don’t just do something, stand there.”
Kyle Rittenhouse might have a few things to say about this. He heard stories of angry mobs ransacking businesses, and decided to do something. Mr. Rittenhouse was severely punished for his decision to help out. Many of the people who spoke out, about the trial, should have kept their thoughts to themself. Justice is not a popularity contest.
5 “If it can be used again, it is not wisdom but theory.” 90% of the time, when people say theory, they really should say hypothesis. It is not known how this relates to reuseable wisdom.
8 “Everyone loves the Revolution. We only disagree on whether it has occurred.” There is a activist recipe. “To make an omelette, you have to break eggs.” Whenever I hear this, I feel like an egg.
13 “Like late afternoon, a pale cirrus crosses the nearly transparent moon. They are so alike, meeting, that I feel, suddenly and childishly, They like each other. Somehow I can’t help liking them for that. Somehow I can’t help feeling that they like me liking them.” Like Joni Mitchell, Dr. Richardson really doesn’t know clouds at all. We are talking about an atmospheric mass of water droplets, and a big rock traveling 403,000 kilometers away from earth.
21 “Birds are amazing, newspapers, stoves, friends. All that happens is amazing, if you think about it. All that doesn’t happen is even more amazing, because there’s so much more of it. Only habit keeps us from seeing all this. Habit is really amazing.” Is Dr. Richardson talking to newspapers, stoves, or friends? Maybe he is talking to all three. Of course, this was back when print media was much more popular than today, so maybe a newspaper was his friend. This does not account for the stove.
34 “I seem to need a larger vocabulary to talk to you than to talk to myself.” There are things that you know, that you never have to describe. When you talk to another person, you need to explain.
55 “Happiness is gratitude in search of something to be owed to.” Dr. Jim is probably grateful to the University of Michigan, for publishing his 56 Bright Ideas. When you are a high level academic, you need to publish things. UM is playing Georgia on New Years Eve. Many people in Alabama would be grateful if Georgia wins. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Selah.
15 Minutes Are Over
The display of a link on this page does not indicate approval of content.
Arizona students stage hunger strike to urge Sinema to support voting reform
the spell check suggestion for small-c christmas is masochist
@ChristianWalk1r should ask Milo Y. what will happen when his 15 minutes are over
BREAKING: Damien Kyle thrown out of house by Boyfriend Paul Canon
I could definitely do a scene with a girl it wouldn’t be hard for me
How Many Advertisements Are We Exposed to Daily? 6k – 10k by some estimates
The American Addiction to Speeding How we became obsessed with driving fast …
Lacking Indictment Prompts Judge to Order Bond for 2 in Murder for Hire Case
Lifelines: The life cycle of a psychic, from ‘talented’ kid to clairvoyant life coach
spell check suggestion for warhol is warhorse ~ i saw an all caps meme about bell hooks
a theory is a hypothesis that passed the test ~ can white people say “denigrate” ?
Six Bay Area Men Arrested For a Staggering 70 Attacks on Asian Women
Understanding Multiracial Whiteness And Trump Supporters
the spell check suggestion of pfizermectin is imperfection
Robert Wright joins the party, rings out a year of the Blob
Loudoun Co. FOI Request #1: The Equity Collaborative Documents
How to pray to a dead God The modern world is disenchanted. God remains dead. …
More Than Skin Deep let actors act, let racial and cultural lines continue to blur
Glenn Loury, Chicago born, on woke policy feeding violent urban crime
Jason Isbell Is Tired Of Country’s Love Affair With White Nostalgia
Online Culture YouTuber StanChris’ everyday videos have real world impact
The “Middle Ground” Between Trans People and Transphobes? | Kat Blaque
Dr. McCullough Describes ‘Ways’ Doctors Are Restricted From Treating COVID
Joe Rogan’s Interview With Dr. Peter McCullough | A Doctor Explains
mccullough ~ flappy bird ~ claudine longet ~ hangout ~ bee
winston ~ ivor cutler ~ shirl nix ~ mattilda ~ velvet underground
mortimer durand ~ snl ~ amos swank ~ magic city ~ ts madison
con law ~ virus total ~ battle of britain ~ rivian ~ 2g1c reaction
2g1c reaction ~ matthew allen smith ~ clairmont road ~ clairmont road ~ 😤
mahones ~ rock paper scissors ~ weapons ~ bell hooks ~ ben franklin
boot ~ peter mccullough ~ ogelthorpe hotel ~ gandhi religion ~ repost
elon musk ~ venire ~ mackenzie phillips ~ know panter ~ greek ~ ogden nash
ogden nash ~ x theater ~ justin smollett ~ camp gordon ~ commander cody ~ democrats
The monday morning reads here have been missing for a while. The chamblee54 monday morning reader continues. If GeorgiaPol is interested, this could be the new monday morning reads. ~ @jk_rowling War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. ‘Absurdity’ of police logging rapists as women ~ @SethAbramson Sorry, J.K., but if a self-described trans (alleged) rapist is indeed a trans person, there’s no harm or foul here—the policy just ensures proper recordkeeping. And if the suspect *falsely* claims to be trans, that lie will be used against them at their rape trial. No issue here. ~ @SethAbramson Let me be crystal clear: no part of the TERF position on this has *anything* to do with protecting women. It has to do with erasing the existence of trans people. Women are being used as rhetorical human shields by misogynistic bigots and it’s f****** backward and embarrassing. ~ The original lyrics to “Georgia On My Mind” said “Just a little song.” Hoagy Carmichael changed little to old sweet. No one is sure whether Georgia is a girl, or a state. ~ It is estimated that the average person is exposed to 6,000 – 10,000 ads per day. We are constantly being fed information, motivation, and exasperation. Well meaning memes contribute to the onslaught. Even if you ignore it, you have been exposed to it. Some of these memes are worthwhile, and some are not. Even if your consciousness is elevated, your peace of mind is affected. One way to look at meditation is as a way of clearing out the mind. Instead of pouring information in, you enter a quiet space, and let the fire cool down. If someone is trying to improve you with memes, this gets in the way. ~ @WokeTemple I wouldn’t say lies. I would say manipulation of truths. This professor takes the FOX-News/MSNBC/CNN approach: We seldom lie outright, but we cherry-pick facts, ignore other facts, and twist facts to create a narrative. Yes, in a way it’s a lie. It’s lying without lying. LOL. ~ Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock. Ben Hecht ~ Vesania madness, insanity, mental derangement ~ “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear and Loathing at the Super Bowl” Rolling Stone, 28 February 1974 ~ p.24 They are not mad. They’re trained to believe, not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous. – Frank Herbert ~ @chamblee54 “he probably got twice as much air time as i got but i probably said twice as much content as he said” thats what she said ~ “didn’t believe that n$$$$$ for a minute” ~ The Theme “My Halo isn’t Broken” … my halo is still in the box. the styrofoam packing absorbed the luster ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
The Durand Line
The United States is spoiled by the acceptance of our international frontiers. The Rio Grande, and the oceans, are obvious. While the Canadian border was a matter of contention at one time, it has been accepted for many years. In many parts of the world, where one country ends and another begins is casus belli, or reason to start a war.
In 1893, what is now Pakistan was known as India, a part of the British empire. The Foreign Secretary of this government was a gentleman named Mortimer Durand. In 1893 a border was drawn between Afghanistan and India, which became known as the Durand Line. There are stories of British dirty deeds. Much of what is today Pakistan arguably belongs to Afghanistan, or an independent Balochistan. This is a repost, with photographs from The Library of Congress.
Philosophy Of 2Girls1Cup
A few years ago, the video “2girls1cup” was the rage of the day. A trailer for a trash Brazilian movie, the featurette shows two buxom young ladies sharing a plastic cup. The contents of the cup are supposed to be human waste … many suspect it is chocolate ice cream. Later, one of the players shares a technicolor yawn with the other. A plastic supply tube may be a prop.
The video is not in wide circulation today. If you go to the original site, you see 2girls1cup.com nothing but porn, another opportunity to buy smut. It is just as well. Before posting a live address, it is time for the DISCLAIMER.
It is not suggested that you watch this. If you are sensitive, have a heart condition, or have just eaten (like, in the last month), you may want to look at something else. It is gross, disgusting, and without redeeming social value. It is not safe for work, and has great danger for play.
The original film is available at a .ca web address. This commentary goes with it: What is Two Girls One Cup ? Two girls one cup (aka 2 girls 1 cup & cup video) is a trailer that was released in 2007 for the artistic film “Hungry Bitches” made by MFX Media. The daring work of art is an allegory for the concept of spiritual awakening. It examines the prevalent ideologies that are internalized in our culture, and in true post-modern form; the thematic piece tends to raise more questions than answers. The philosophical film has varying interpretations, which is why the 2 girls 1 cup film is still analysed and debated about to this date.
Chamblee54 has weighed in on this “matter” before. If you google “2girls1cup snopes,” Philosophy Of 2Girls1Cup is result number five. The dreaded “number two” result was from the Urban Dictionary, 2 girls 1 cup scam. “It’s probably a mixture of coffee cream cake filling and crunchy peanut butter”.
PG doubts that the creators of this epic had a message. They just wanted to make a bit of cheesy scat porn. Just because the creators of a work don’t intend for it to be a myth, that doesn’t stop the determined believer. Did the Council of Nicea intend their church canon to be taken as the inerrant Word of G-d? The texts in that canon were often allegorical stories, not literal truth.
Is there a deeper truth inherent in a tawdry vignette of snacking sisters? Maybe the cup is the Christ figure. The deposit in the cup represents the sin of mankind, forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus took the sins of man on his shoulders, and paid the price for these sins, just as the cup received the product of a young lady’s digestive system.
The trouble is, the girls then ate the forbidden flop. This compares to the way the church of Jesus Worship recycles sin. The poisonous anger and rudeness that Jesus paid for on the cross are fed back to the eager believers every Sunday.
After the excremental dessert, the actress hurled onto the breast of her willing dining companion. This stands in for the verbal abuse showered on worshipers every Sunday. Professional Jesus Worshipers project a vile output on the pew warmers. They think they are going to heaven as a result. Was this the message the producers of this video intended? The best course of action might be refusing to partake of the product. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Judy Roasting On An Open Fire
SFFILK (Not his real name) passes along a story about Mel Tormé. It seems like Mr.Tormé was eating a leisurely breakfast at a food court in Los Angeles, and a quartet appeared singing Christmas songs. They wound up performing “The Christmas Song” for co- author Tormé … and the singers had no idea who he was. It is a good story, better told in the link. This is a repost, with pictures from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
According to the inerrant Wikipedia, Mr. Tormé collaborated with Robert Wells, until they had a falling out. One afternoon, on the hottest day of July in 1945, Mr.Tormé went to visit Mr.Wells, and saw the first four lines of “The Christmas Song” (including “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose”). The lines were on a note pad, and the two agreed to beat the heat of summer by completing the song. Supposedly, Mr. Tormé did not like the song very much. After three divorces, he probably didn’t see many of the royalties.
Mel Tormé was the music director of the ill fated “Judy Garland Show” in the early sixties. He wrote a book about it… The Other Side of the Rainbow: With Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol . The story is that Miss Garland would get blasted, call Mr.Tormé in the middle of the night, and pour out her troubles. (This review is much less sympathetic towards Mr. Tormé.) While the show did not last longer, there are some great youtube clips left over.
Georgia On My Mind
“Georgia On My Mind” turned up of facebook this morning. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. This is a repost from 2020.
Youtube turned up the original “© Written in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael (music) and Stuart Gorrell (lyrics) © Gorrell wrote the lyrics for Hoagy’s sister, Georgia Carmichael. However, the lyrics of the song are ambiguous enough to refer either to the state or to a woman named “Georgia”. Carmichael’s 1965 autobiography, “Sometimes I Wonder”, records the origin: a friend, saxophonist and bandleader Frankie Trumbauer, suggested: “Why don’t you write a song called ‘Georgia’? Nobody lost much writing about the South.” Thus, the song is universally believed to have been written about the state.”
National Anthems has a story about GOOM. (The 90’s website has a retro-illustration.) “STUART GRAHAM STEVEN GORRELL (1901-1963) and HOAGLAND HOWARD CARMICHAEL (1899-1981), wrote the song in 1930 almost as a lark … Hoagy Carmichael went to Indiana University, and one of his best college chums was Stuart Gorrell. Hoagy Carmichael was going to be a lawyer and Stuart Gorrell, when not hanging around the local “jazz joint” (called The Book Nook!) had promised someone that he would eventually be a success in the world of business.”
“The two of them were together at a party in New York and Hoagy Carmichael played what he had of the “Georgia” music line for Stuart Gorrell and some friends. After the party broke up, the two of them went back to a friend’s apartment and worked on the tune throughout the night. Stuart Gorrell wrote what he thought would be a good lyric line on the back of a post card, (now displayed in the Carmichael Room at Indiana University) and showed it to Hoagy Carmichael. One can still plainly see the few, but important, changes that Hoagy Carmichael made on that small piece of cardboard to Stuart Gorrell’s lyrical scratchings. The song was improved upon, and the lyrics written, in that boozy early morning, and recorded in September 1930 by a band that included Hoagy Carmichael’s great friend, Bix Beiderbecke – a recording session that proved to be Bix’s last.”
“Hoagy Carmichael went on to write many more songs, some of them hits, and Stuart Gorrell kept his promise and became a Vice President at Chase Bank. Stuart Gorrell never tried to write another song lyric, but ‘Georgia on my Mind’ became a hit after World War II and Hoagy Carmichael, true to his word – although Stuart Gorrell was not legally credited as the lyricist by the music publisher – always sent Stuart Gorrell a cheque for what would have been his share of royalty. The royalty income from that song is substantial and, after Stuart Gorrell died, the income put his daughter through college.”
Mr. Gorrell wrote a letter to the Bremen (Indiana) Enquirer, August 3, 1961. “This accompanied his response to his home town’s Teen Hop patrons choosing the song as their theme song. … “Georgia on my mind” was composed more than a quarter of a century ago on a cold and stormy evening in 1930 in New York City. Hoagy Carmichael and I, in a third floor apartment overlooking 52nd street, with cold feet and warm hearts, looked out the window and, not liking what we saw, turned our thoughts to the pleasant southland. Thus was born a hauntingly sweet song. My mother, who died in Bremen in 1942, once asked a very penetrating question about the song. I had sent her a copy of the sheet music and, after reading the words over several times, she wondered aloud: “What is Georgia? A girl—or state? What do you think? Hoagy and I just love every one of you Bremen Teen Hoppers for honoring out tune by making it your theme song. Sincerely, Stuart Gorrell”
Contribute To My Gentrification
The display of a link on this page does not indicate approval of content.
Thomas Easterly Daguerreotype Collection: 17341-17639
Is My Little Library Contributing to the Gentrification of My Black Neighborhood?
NYT: Blk woman puts out books on her lawn, finds out whites like to read
Bishop Nicholas Loses His Cool (At The Council of Nicaea)
St. Nicholas and Arius at the Council of Nicea
Let’s Stop Celebrating St. Nicholas Punching Arius One, he didn’t do it. Two, it …
Do they still make glue out of old horses? Neighbourly Advice According to Ed
NYT op-ed mocked for fearing her free little library is contributing to …
How 1970s “It” Girl Eve Babitz Became Young Hollywood’s Latest Obsession
A white teacher taught white students about white privilege. It cost him his job.
Brits are calling out the ‘dystopian’ and ‘post-apocalyptic’ American pharma ads …
Young Dems more likely to despise the other party College students who would not …
The 1938 Home Owner’s Loan Corporation “Residential Security Map” of Atlanta
A Generational Story Not Being Told: Talking with Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Dr. Melina Abdullah, Co-Founder of BLM Los Angeles, regarding Jussie Smollett
IN THE MATTER OF THE SEARCH OF TWENTY-SIX (26) DIGITAL …
Kanye West publicist pressed Georgia election worker to confess to bogus fraud charges
8.5″ x 11″ – 816 x 1056 (817 x 1057) – 1008 x 1248 – borders .75 or 72 – 1″ border 192
Perdue’s candidacy ‘continuation of the coup attempt, insurrection that Trump launched’
Bulldog football players with Terry ties use NIL rights to benefit charities
These Tweets are protected Only approved followers can see @RobinDiAngelo’s Tweets.
Why Do People Say “Jesus H. Christ,” and Where Did the “H” Come From?
Georgia Republicans purge Black Democrats from county election boards
After 2-year fight, marshals finally evict man squatting in high-end Ansley Park home
Psychobiddies and Visionary Women Who Must Be Seen
‘Stay the hell out of Fulton County’: Pitts blasts Perdue’s ballot inspection lawsuit
UK ruling on extraditing Wikileaks’ Assange ‘seriously damages journalism’
Facebook court filing admits ‘fact checks’ are just a matter of opinion
Attorneys seeks Jurors from 43 Counties in Federal Trial Over Arbery Death
‘I was paralysed’ Keith Jarrett reveals agony of his stroke and lost ability to play
Researcher Andrew Hill’s conflict: $40 million Gates Foundation grant vs 500k lives
Monoclonal Antibodies For COVID-19 Are A Potentially Life-Saving Therapy
Second female Penn swimmer steps forward, describes teammates in tears
Fighting Fascism By Calling For The Arrest Of Your Political Opponents
Jorge Luis Borges ~ windows logo shortcuts ~ monkees ~ gathering ~ mark meadows
barzin ~ anolik ~ garrett rolfe ~ BBC production. ~ barbara brozik
mattilda ~ Pièces pour Guitare ~ sws ~ facebook legal ~ chen chen writes
michael nesmith ~ LA ~ contranyms ~ Inni ~ erik satie
erik satie ~ Sigur Rós ~ mick jagger ~ philip glass ~ philip glass
sound sculptures ~ robert wyatt ~ king crimson ~ jussie n-word ~ the devils anvil
nihilist spasm ~ lena wertmuller ~ pagans ~ brannon hill ~ Atlanta 1934
emory maps ~ atlanta map 1934 ~ gsu map collection ~ 1935 atlanta map ~ 1921 atlanta map
atlanta 1938 map ~ collier heights ~ monroe drive ~ 1938 rsm ~ atl maps
mark hoppus ~ 01/06/21 ~ ~ nothing ~ Lili Anolik/Eve Babitz ~ Sildenafil vs Tadalafil
covid story ~ church ~ aps vs buckhead ~ visionary love ~ @CasparSalmon
@CasparSalmon My one Christmas tradition that I abide by without fail is sharing the worst short story of all time every December. So here it is, christmas calender by Fay Weldon, as terrible as ever. Enjoy! ~ 99% Invisible produced a story about Collier Heights, a pioneering suburb built for Black people. Included in the documentation was a “residential security map” from 1938. The map color-coded the city’s neighborhoods: A, green, “The Best,” B, blue, “Still Desirable,” C, yellow, “Definitely Declining,” D, red, “Hazardous.” The implication was that the D neighborhoods were where Black people lived. If you look at Boulevard on this map, you see that it is still called Boulevard north of Ponce De Leon Avenue. The neighborhood is C. Boulevard does not become a D neighborhood until Wabash Av., a few blocks south of Ponce De Leon. ~ This is the infamous Saturday Evening Post article from 1967 that told everyone that the Monkees did not play their own instruments. A seventh grade classmate of mine said it was “very disillusioning ~ @chamblee54 Say what you like about @BrianKempGA … and there is plenty of negativity … the fact remains that @BrianKempGA stood up to President Trump. ~ selah
A Cynic
“A cynic is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” ― Oscar Wilde. This quote is one of Oscar’s greatest hits. If you think about it for a minute, it is not totally accurate. You are not supposed to think. Quoting Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde is about sounding clever, not making sense. Did he really create that definition of a cynic? This is a repost.
Oscar Wilde is a quote magnet. This is more than something you put on your refrigerator. When people hear something clever, odds are good that Oscar will get the blame. As Dorothy Parker wrote: “If, with the literate, I am, Impelled to try an epigram, I never seek to take the credit; We all assume that Oscar said it. [Life Magazine, June 2, 1927]”
Wikiquote says this line is from Act III of Lady Windermere’s Fan. It was spoken by Lord Darlington. Did the play write intend for the line to be taken seriously, or was he making the character look foolish by saying it? With Oscar Wilde, it could be both of these things at the same time.
Principle Four, of the four principles of quotations, reads “Only quote from works that you have read.” In the case of Lady Windemere’s Fan, this would mean a youtube video of the play. There is a posh BBC production available. You don’t have to watch the cell phone recording of high school players.
Lady Windemere’s Fan is a production where upper class Brits say clever things in glorious costumes. Nobody ever goes to the bathroom, or looks less than perfect. Lady Windemere’s six month old child is neither seen, nor heard. Lady Windemere finds out her husband, Lord Windemere, is having an affair with a Mrs. Erlynne. The Lord proceeds to invite the floozy to Lady Windemere’s birthday party.
After the party, the men go to their club, then to Lord Darlington’s room. There are five men in the conversation, beginning with Lord Windemere. Lord Darlington has just told Lady Windemere that he loves her, and wants her to run off with him. Lady Windemere said no. Lord Augustus is a suitor of Mrs. Erlynne, and is begging her to marry him. Cecil Graham, and Mr. Dumby, wear their splendid costumes with conviction.
The scene starts with the men saying clever things, most of them insulting to someone. Lord Augustus, or Tuppy, is the butt of many jokes. Before long, we get this exchange:
Dumby. I don’t think we are bad. I think we are all good, except Tuppy.
Lord Darlington. No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Dumby. We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars? Upon my word, you are very romantic to-night, Darlington.
Cecil Graham. Too romantic! You must be in love. Who is the girl?
Lord Darlington. The woman I love is not free, or thinks she isn’t. [Glances instinctively at Lord Windermere while he speaks.]
A few minutes later, we hear another famous Oscarism.
Lord Darlington. What cynics you fellows are!
Cecil Graham. What is a cynic? [Sitting on the back of the sofa.]
Lord Darlington. A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Cecil Graham. And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything, and doesn’t know the market price of any single thing.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Ansel Adams And Dorothea Lange
The facebook feed has recently had links to a story, Dorothea Lange’s Censored Photographs of FDR’s Japanese Concentration Camps. Miss Lange was the photographer of the iconic Migrant Mother. After Pearl Harbor, Miss Lange took a job with the War Relocation Authority, documenting the “relocation” of Japanese-Americans to interment camps. The photographs did not please the authorities. They were censored, and only appeared recently. This is a repost.
Ansel Adams also took photographs at the Manzanar, California, camp. In the current stories, he is literally a footnote: quotes were used from a book about his photography. Why is Dorothea Lange receiving attention, while Ansel Adams is ignored?
One answer is that Miss Lange was hired early on, and shows the harsh reality of relocation. “On July 30, 1942, the WRA laid her off “without prejudice,” adding that the cause was “completion of work…. the WRA impounded the majority of her photographs of Manzanar and the forced detentions, and later deposited 800 image from the series in the National Archives without announcement.”
“After Lange’s departure, Manzanar’s director Ralph Merritt visited renowned environmentalist and landscape photographer Ansel Adams and suggested he document the camp — Merritt and Adams were friends from the Sierra Club. Lange, also friends with Adams, encouraged him to take the job. (Coincidentally Adams printed “Migrant Mother” for her ) …Ansel Adams made several trips to Manzanar between October 1943 and July 1944 for this new personal project, and, as Alinder writes, he was primed to try the kind of documentary photography regularly practiced by Dorothea Lange and the Farm Security Administration that he had earlier shunned. Unlike Lange, a white woman who had been viewed with suspicion by her subjects, Adams was welcomed by the incarcerees, even greeted as a celebrity in a cultural community that had a deep appreciation of nature — many incarcerees at Manzanar literally opened their doors to him dressed in their finest clothes. … By 1943, Manzanar’s incarcarees had had time to settle in and enjoy the fruits of their collective work. In less than ideal surroundings, they had collectively built their own post office, town hall, library, auditorium, co-op store system, police station, jail, cemetery with memorial, published their own newspaper (the ironically named the Manzanar Free Press, which was regularly censored by the military), and even their own YMCA.”
“As for Lange, looking at the historical record, it appears that she was treated differently from the other WRA photographers. She was discouraged from talking to the incarcerees, was constantly followed by a censor, and faced harassment. She was refused access to areas after being given clearance, and she was often hounded over phone charges and receipts. … After being discharged, Lange expressed in letters her dismay that her work was ineffective in helping the people she documented. Her assistant Christina Clausen later noted the ferocity of this body of work also marked the beginning of the photographer’s bleeding gastric ulcers. Lange was unable to work for a number of years after her harrowing experience at Manzanar. She died from esophageal cancer in 1965.”
“In 1944, Adams’s photographs were published as a book, “Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese Americans,” and shown at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Nativists took offense. They saw Adams’s work as a slur on the war effort. He was a “Jap lover.” This quote is from a 2016 article, Let’s be honest, Ansel Adams’s images of a WWII internment camp are propaganda
“Adams visited Manzanar to take photos in 1943 at the request of camp director Ralph Merritt, who was a personal friend. “They don’t look quite as dusty and quite as forbidding as Dorothea Lange’s photos … Indeed, the place that looks barren and depressing in Lange’s pictures manages to look beautiful in Adams’. You get little sense that it was even a detention center, in part because Adams, like other photographers, was not allowed to shoot the guard towers or barbed wire…
There are scenes from a baseball game, kids walking to school, a gathering outside a chapel. Lots of smiles, too, and portraits of camp residents cropped so close, you can see every blemish and stray hair. In Adams’ vision, Manzanar comes off as a place where Japanese-Americans, dignified, resilient and optimistic in spite of their circumstances, built a temporary community in the desert.
(Skirball Cultural Center director Robert) Kirschner said that if Adams’ photos appear to sugarcoat the indignities of life in an internment camp, it is because he did not see himself as a social activist the way Lange did. Still, Kirscher says, Adams was challenging internment in his own way, by depicting its victims as patriotic, law-abiding Americans. Unlike Lange, Adams was given permission to publish his photos. Before the war ended, he did so in a book called “Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese Americans,” in which he warned about the dangers of letting wartime hysteria justify depriving U.S. citizens of their freedom.”
The NPR article mentions a third Manzanar photographer. “Before World War II, Toyo Miyatake had a photo studio in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. When he learned he would be interned at Manzanar, he asked a carpenter to build him a wooden box with a hole carved out at one end to accommodate a lens. He turned this box into a makeshift camera that he snuck around the camp, as his grandson Alan Miyatake explains in the video below, which is featured in the exhibit.
Fearful of being discovered, Miyatake at first only took pictures at dusk or dawn, usually without people in them. Camp director Merritt eventually caught Miyatake, but instead of punishing him, allowed him to take pictures openly. Miyatake later became the camp’s official photographer.”
Pictures for today’s feature are from The Library of Congress. These are pictures that Ansel Adams took at Manzanar. They have been posted at chamblee54 before. The ladies in the bridge game are Aiko Hamaguchi, Chiye Yamanaki, Catherine Yamaguchi, and Kazoko Nagahama.
Chamblee54 
leave a comment