Middle Names
This is a double repost, about the custom of middle names. It was published in this format in 2011. Today, a middle name is like a body part or an excuse.. everyone has one. It has not always been that way. The part about Presidential middle names was written during the 2008 campaign. Pictures are from The Library of Congress .
With the commentary about the middle name of Barack Hussein Obama, perhaps it is time for a look at the lessons of history. George Washington did not have a middle name. Nor the rest of the early Presidents. The first one to have a middle name (or initial) is John Quincy Adams. J.Q. Adams is the first son of a president to hold the office. The second one proved to be unfortunate.
The next POTUS to show a middle initial was William Henry Harrison. He was the first victim of the Zero Factor, in which Presidents elected in years ending in zero died in office. This tradition was ended by Ronald Wilson Reagan.
Another Zero Factor President, Abraham Lincoln, did not have a middle name. Ulysses S. Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant. One legend has a mistake on a school application giving him the middle name Simpson, after his mother’s maiden name. Moving into the twentieth century, William Howard Taft was referred to by all three names.
In many ways, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first president of the modern age. For some reason, his middle name was frequently used, and the initials FDR became popular. Presidential initials did not become popular again until JFK and LBJ. After FDR went to the fireside chat in the sky, Harry S. Truman became president. The S stood for nothing.
The next president whose middle name was frequently used was John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Could this be a subtle dig at his Irish background, much as the current noise about Barack Hussein Obama? As for Baines and Milhous, those middle names both seemed to fit the personality of the man.
After Lightbulb Lyndon, the use of Presidential middle names went into decline. Gerald Rudolph Ford would be a good trivia question. George Herbert Walker Bush downplayed his quadruple initials, perhaps knowing that many people don’t trust a man with two middle names. George Walker Bush is frequently referred to by his middle initial.
In the 2008 election, we had a dark skinned man with a Muslim middle name. We had a white haired republican with the middle name of Sidney. And we had a married woman, who uses her maiden name as a middle name. Her original middle name is Diane. 2012 saw Willard Mitt Romney try to get elected. In 2016, Bernard Sanders was a Democratic challenger. Mr. Sanders does not have a middle name, leading to an unflattering set of initials. The less said about Donald John Trump versus Joseph Robinette Biden Jr, the better.
While researching this feature, PG noticed that many of the early presidents did not have middle names . Apparently, before the American Revolution, middle names were seldom given. For some reason the custom caught on during the 19th century. When America started to draft men for World War I, the draft papers included a space for the middle name.
One possible reason for middle names was population density and increased family size. Many people began to have the same first name (or Christian name) and last name (Surname). Middle names were a way to distinguish between Jimmy Bob Jones and Jimmy Joe Jones. There was possibly a bit of status involved in having more than one name.
Women have long used the maiden name as a middle name after marriage. Girls were often not given middle names for this reason. The hyphenated Maiden-Married name is a fairly recent custom (Which this author hopes is a fad that will go away).
While middle names were originally a decoration, many are now used as a primary identification. PG is referred to as a diminutive of his middle name, which can be confusing when authorities insist on using his first name. The middle name is also a handy alternative for someone who gets tired of the name they are called by. There is also this thought …”I think parents give kids middle names so the kids will know when they are really p****d at them.”
Cis
The prefix cis- is being used to mean the opposite of trans. This is a gender thing. A cismale is a man who uses the factory equipment. A transman is someone who does things differently. There are various forms of this, which is a bit too complicated for social media discussion. Fecesbook Facebook, famously fallacy friendly, is not a good medium for subtle discussion. This is a repost.
Before we get started, it should be noted that cis- serves a valid purpose. The only objection here is to the word itself. It has a weird sound, and can be confusing. Perhaps an alternative would be to say birth gender. If you are were born male, and live in compliance with the gender assigned at birth, then you are a birth male, as opposed to a trans male.
Today’s drama started out with a post by Kat Blaque. Mx. Blaque is self described as “Illustration, Animator, Youtuber” on twitter, and “Children’s Illustrator, Thrift Store Addict and Opinion Vlogger” on facebook. The comment: “People who don’t like the word “cis” are annoying because they pretend it’s made up when it’s a prefix commonly used in science. but whatever. Ya’ll some children.”
Luther Mckinnon This comment is transplaining. I don’t like cis- because the s sound is tough to make for many people. Also, cis- sounds like cissy. Kat Blaque Butch up mary.
There were comments. Most of them had to do with “sounds like cissy.” The objection is not because of “emasculation.” The simple truth is that a cissy (or sissy) is a man who does not conform to gender standards. In other words, he does not *act like a man.* A cismale is someone who conforms to gender standards. Cissy sounds a lot like cismale. They mean dramatically different things.
The language g-ds have spoken. The opposite of trans- is cis-. Any man who does not conform to this language standard is less of a man than one who does. To have standards of masculinity applied to using a prefix denoting the opposite of trans…this is weird.
Luther Mckinnon So, we make a difference this time. The business of using the cis prefix if fairly new. We can get into ableism issues here if you like. It is interesting that I made the comment about the s sound first. The part about similarity to cissy was second. The first comment was ignored. The incidental second comment was jumped on by the “woke”masses. There is also a bit of confusion here. A cissy is basically a non gender conforming male. Cis- means conforming to the gender assigned at birth. I see a contradiction there. Kat BlaqueI have a lisp and I can say cis just find. Butch up. Samantha Nicholson I like “cis” it sounds very scientific and using it makes me sound smart! “Prefix commonly used in science.” This is news to a lot of people, with the possible exception of the Cisco Kid. Crosswordsolver.org has a list of words starting in cis. One familiar item is cistern, the opposite of a dry garden. Other commonly used words include cisalpine, cislunar, cismontane, Cissoid, Cistothorus, Cistothorus palustris, and Cistus ladanum.
One more person made a comment. Cianán Russell Luther, sit down. Seriously. I know you- SIT DOWN. Luther Mckinnon Who? This post has gone on long enough. It is time for the pictures, from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Grammar Oppression
An MF writer (Melissa A. Fabello) at Everyday Feminism chimes in today with Why Grammar Snobbery Has No Place in the Movement. She means a social justice movement, not a bowel movement. The two movements have a similar aroma. This is a repost.
With more and more people using written english, there are more grammar mistakes. Some people enjoy pointing these out. The EF post says that such behavior is elitist, privileged, and yes, racist. The distinction between written, and spoken, is not made.
“So, if a person wrote a Facebook comment that said “That their was an example of cissexism,” a prescriptive grammarian might comment back, “I think you mean ‘there,’” and a descriptive grammarian might respond, “You understood what they meant.” And while both schools are accepted forms of linguistic thought, it’s important to note that any time we create a hierarchy by positioning one thing as “better” than another, we’re being oppressive.” (“That there” sounds clumsy and ignorant, even using the correct “there.”)
“Ghanaian blogger Delalorm Semabia, in a conversation about the eradication of “the Queen’s English” in Ghana, explained, “The idea that intelligence is linked to English pronunciation is a legacy from colonial thinking.” And this is precisely where we need to start this conversation. As educated (and – okay – snarky) activists, we’re quick to respond to “According to the dictionary” arguments with “Who wrote the dictionary, though?” We understand that a reference guide created by a white supremacist, heteropatriarchal system does nothing but uphold that status quo. Similarly, we have to use that line of thinking when talking about the English language: Who created the rules? And who benefits from them? As per usual, what this comes down to is an issue of privilege (of course!). In fact, grammar snobbery comes down to an intersection of multiple privileges.
…You’ve probably never given much thought to this, aside perhaps from believing that you speak “correctly” and that everyone else who speaks a different type of English than you do speaks the language “wrong.” And perhaps you’ve noticed how often “those people” are people of color. And we (as a society) denounce any form of the language that isn’t “white” enough. Umm, that’s racist.”
English is a living, evolving language. Spoken english changes faster than written english. The written form, devoid of vocal inflection and facial expressions, is more dependent on rules of grammar to communicate.
As different people use english, they develop different ways of speaking. Many of the phrases that are common today began as slang in ethnic populations. As time goes on, these phrases become accepted as standard english. (Some see this use of “other culture’s expressions” as cultural appropriation. PG is neutral in that debate.)
The rules for written english are slower to change. At what point do we criticize the grammar of others? It can be a useful rhetorical tactic, along with ___splaining what the person really meant. Or do we just accept that some people are not privileged enough to use good grammar? (There is a certain condescension in excusing the bad grammar of others because of their background. “Oh, they can’t help not knowing that, because they is a poor oppressed POC.”)
In the list of grammar nazi privileges, MF quotes Kurt Vonnegut. PG likes to research quotes, and found a reddit page about the passage. The full quote (MF only used one sentence.) “First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college. And I realize some of you may be having trouble deciding whether I am kidding or not. So from now on I will tell you when I’m kidding.” And yes, Kurt Vonnegut does use semicolons in his work.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. “Photographs taken at a horse show in Atlanta, Georgia, 1937.” UPDATE: There was an twitter exchange with the person who tweeted about the article: Knowing the difference between there and their is not oppression. ~ Not everyone has the luxury.
Storie Di Nudità
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dennis cooper ~ shaman tv ~ emmett till ~ cam ~ atlanta campaign
atlanta campaign ~ battle of atlanta ~ Chamblee54 ~ thinking horror ~ ram dass
alchemy ~ nicholas marn ~ repost ~ repost ~ johnson ferry
drezner ~ arthur evans ~ blm ~ repost ~ overton wondow
vandella ~ 12:44 ~ lbcb034-083b ~ jessee boo ~ translash
puppy dogs ~ joe campbell ~ walk on the wild side ~ john holder jr. ~ jackie curtis
jackson browne ~ lev raphael ~ lev raphael ~ ram dass bbc ~ uga
nudnik ~ nudnik ~ pickin up after you ~ southern storytellers ~ arthur evans
surf city ~ princetta ~ ramdassS ~ Donbas ~ ukraine thread
thread reader ~ cross your heart ~ nato ~ nato ~ ukraine
jackson browne ~ It is an indication that Andy’s fifteen minutes are FINALLY over. Mr. Warhola was the height of modern in his day. The only problem is, his day ended 36 years ago. In 1987, the concept of “preferred pronouns” would be seen as bizarre futurism. ~ oralToppig69 sent a smile and opened his private photos. I exchanged a few pleasantries, told him that i do not party, and made a polite agreement to get in touch . this morning i looked at the message window. ” you’ve been blocked by this member” ~ lbcb034-083bx ~ A vandella is one of several types of ghost-walking or dream-invading demons or vampires in the traditional folklore of the Amhara in north-central Ethiopia. ~ “if I hadn’t spent so much time studying Earthlings,’ said the Tralfamadorian, ‘I wouldn’t have any idea what was meant by “free will.” I’ve visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.” ~ a – figures on the beach live b – moonlight drift c – eastern dreams d – figures on the beach ~ I was looking for an old post to recycle. I found something I wrote in 2008, about the war of 1812. The post was inspired by YELLODOGGRANNIE. I am delighted to see that you are still in the blogging game. If you ever have too much free time, go visit Chamblee54. I moved to WordPress years ago. I still publish every day, even if it is mostly reruns of old material. I started editing historic pictures, and using them to illustrate my posts. The text seldom has any relation to the pictures, which are almost always better than the text. ~ This is a repost from 2017. GeorgiaPol is still published, with far less material than before. Many of these current GP posts are by Charlie Harper. Charlie is suspected of being “The Deep Dark.” … “Georgia is electing a new Governor next year. These no-incumbent elections can get weird.” Oh my, this chrystal ball business is scary. Nobody in 2017 could have forseen what a circus the 2018 Georgia Governor’s election would be. When Stacey Abrams read “The Biggest Shill in Georgia,” she said “Hold my fried chicken beer.” ~ this is a rerun of a post from 2017. “Georgia is electing a new Governor next year. These no-incumbent elections can get weird.” @MikeHassinger @CharlieBHarper ~ In honor of the men, both Union and Confederate, who fought July 22, 1864. Today, the battlefield is an Interstate Highway, and a trendy neighborhood. ~ RECONCILIATION. WORD over all, beautiful as the sky! Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost; That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil’d world: …For my enemy is dead—a man divine as myself is dead; I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin—I draw near; I bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin. ~ 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987, 1597, 2584, 4181 ~ if you are a twitter user, you should read this 27 part thread. There is a great deal of information about Ukraine that we simply are not hearing in this country. The Euromaidan revolution of 2014 directly lead to this hideous conflict. I heard little about it until last year. In 2014, news was dominated by Ferguson MO. What other time bombs are ticking in the world now? ~ I never heard of @realchrisrufo before the interview with @thereidout I suspect it was a set up. It certainly worked out well for both players ~ My weight class is Karen @InsightTweeting I know which issues I disagree with RFK on (most), and which ones I agree with him on (few), because I listen to what he says. If someone is censored, you’re allowing another entity to make that determination for you. ~ pictures for this midsummers evolutionary divergence are from The Library of Congress ~ selah
The Biggest Shill in Georgia
This is a repost from 2017. GeorgiaPol is still published, with far less material than before. Many of these current GP posts are by Charlie Harper. Charlie is suspected of being “The Deep Dark.” … “Georgia is electing a new Governor next year. These no-incumbent elections can get weird.” Nobody in 2017 could have foreseen what a circus the 2018 Georgia Governor’s election would be. When Stacey Abrams read “The Biggest Shill in Georgia,” she said “Hold my beer.”
Georgia is electing a new Governor next year. These no-incumbent elections can get weird. There is usually an “its my turn” journeyman, a couple of ambitious performers, and the nut jobs. Yesterday, a man named Michael Williams held a meeting in front of a staircase at the state capitol. This event was slammed by a political website, GeorgiaPol
PG observed these events, and chuckled. He went to the Michael Williams website, and found a hilarious paragraph in the bio. “His first experience with his own business was selling candy on the school bus. Unfortunately, this was also his first experience with over-reaching government regulations. The school shut down his school bus candy sales. Michael was devastated but learned a lesson about government control that he would never forget.” This is like the punchline, to the joke about the *free market* pervert… “Hey kid, you want to buy some candy?”
GeorgiaPol has a regular post, Morning Reads. It is usually a collection of links, and news tidbits. PG wanted to share the Williams timeline feature somewhere, and posted it in the Morning Reads comments. He thought one, or two, people might enjoy it.
The Biggest Shill in Georgia turned up at July 14, 2017 9:58 AM. By TheDeepDark “noun 1. an accomplice of a hawker, gambler, or swindler who acts as an enthusiastic customer to entice or encourage others. verb 1. act or work as a shill. Since we see this word used a lot in comments, on Facebook, and just about everywhere we thought it would be a good idea to internally vote and come up with the one person that we believe embodies this word the best… we present you with http://www.georgiashill.com Enjoy your day.”
When you click on http://www.georgiashill.com , you go the the facebook page of Luther Mckinnon. As some of you know, Luther Mckinnon is the owner of chamblee54, and the man behind PG. This has never been a secret. Chamblee54 is a psuedonym. If you look in the “About Me” page, you will see pictures, and a few biographical clues. All posts on chamblee54 are advertised on facebook and twitter, on accounts using the Luther Mckinnon identity.
If you click on the gravatar for “TheDeepDark,” you see this: TheDeepDark We’re sorry, that profile has been deleted. Perhaps you’d like to log in or sign up for an account? Perhaps the five comments will provide a clue. John Pezold Got me. Is this 2017’s version of Rick Rolling? Lawton Sack GeorgiaPolling chamblee54 I resemble that remark Ellynn I don’t even comment on the Facebook page… What did I miss? blakeage80 Nice. Only TheDeepDark could pull that off.
It is tough what to make of this. Did TDD think chamblee54 was working for Michael Williams? Was this an inside joke for GeorgiaPol? Nobody said anything on facebook, so maybe it didn’t really happen. Pictures for your friday afternoon entertainment are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. UPDATE: Here is Part Two.
The Harder They Come
T.C. Boyle wrote The Harder They Come. It is based on the story of Aaron Bassler. A young man takes the wrong drugs, is inspired by the wrong stories, kills two men, and is killed by the police.
In one book tour interview, Mr. Boyle talks about the violence in America. There usually is a recent event to refer to. With more guns, and more anger, people are getting hurt. Rather than deliver a lecture, Mr. Boyle tells a story.
Adam is a troubled young man. He prefers to be called Colter, in honor of a frontier hero. He spends most of his time in the woods of Northern California. Adam shacks up with Sara, another lost soul. Things go relatively smoothly until the house Adam lives in is sold.
While all this is going on, Adam’s father, Sten, tries to enjoy his retirement. One of Sten’s neighbors is fired up about the Mexicans growing dope in the forests, and wants to do something. The man goes hiking in the forests, looking for drug activity. He stumbles onto Adam, who is living in the woods. After a verbal confrontation, Adam shoots the hiker dead. Before long there is another killing in the forest, and a massive manhunt ensues. After coltering his way out of danger for a month, the police find Adam, with fatal consequences.
The story is well written and entertaining, as is all T.C. Boyle product. At times the plot takes twists that are tough to believe. Sara sees a police car in a parking lot, and wants revenge. People in this tale are always getting even for something. Sara goes into the police car, opens the cover to the gas tank, and pours a container of sugar water into the fuel. This does not seem likely.
There are no easy answers. Weapons are easily available to drug addled young men. Everyone who lives in a coastal paradise is angry. Eventually it all boil over, people get hurt, and PG has a story to read. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Slaughterhouse-Five Part Three
Welcome to part three of the Vonnegutian excavation of Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut. Parts one and two have already been published. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. It is written like J. R. R. Tolkien. This is a repost.
It is a lovely last day of July in Georgia. This chapter will be include chapters three and four. This project is at a lovely interlude. The rythyms and methods have been established. It is still fun to write, without the dreary duty involved in the final chapters. Hopefully it will be fun to read. It is early enough in the day that the window can be left open. Joggers and dog walkers are in the road, accompanied by baby strollers and cell phones. It is a great day in post racial Amerika.
Billy Pilgrim (BP) has been captured by the Germans. It was the tail end of the war, and most of the elite soldiers were pushing up Russian daisies. The Germans who captured BP were teenage boys and toothless old men. Their uniforms were taken off of dead soldiers. This ghoulish bit of recycling was marked by the phrase “so it goes.” It is noted in this text as SIG020.
The commander of the unit, that captured BP, was a corporal. He had been wounded four times, and sent back into action. The corporal wore golden cavalry boots, stolen off a dead Hungarian colonel. SIG021. This theme of stealing footwear from prisoners will be played out soon.
Roland Weary is well equipped. He has a spectacular hunting knife, scarves, boots, and a bullet proof Bible. When he is captured, the Germans take all his pretties away. His combat boots are taken off his feet, and given to one of the teenage boys. The boy had wooden clogs, which were given to Roland Weary. It did not work out well for the captured Amerikan.
While admiring the manly footwear of the colonel, BP hears three shots in the distance. Two Amerikan scouts were killed. SIG022. These scouts had been with BP, and Roland Weary, and had left them. Roland Weary thought thet him, and the scouts, were the Three Musketeers. The scouts thought Roland Weary was an obnoxious jerk. As KV said in another book, some people are just no damn good. Some people say that KV had a negative attitude.
While the Germans were dealing with him, BP began to time travel. He wound up in Ilium NY, 1967, when BP was 44 years old. His apparent date of birth varies throughout the text, which is not a big deal on Tralfamadore. BP, a wealthy optometrist, drives a Cadillac El Dorado Coupe de Ville. It has a bumber sticker that says “Impeach Earl Warren.”
PG was 13 yo in part of 1967, and can remember Earl Warren. The man was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. This version of SCOTUS handed down decisions about school desegregation, and Miranda rights, that upset conservatives. Before that, Mr. Warren was Governor of California, and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate in 1948. This was an election the Republicans had no business losing, but Harry Truman got the electoral votes. Earl Warren is little remembered today. The fact that PG recognizes the name, and the bumper sticker, makes him feel old in 2015.
BP had a good life in 1967. He drove a Cadillac, and made lots of money. BP went to Lions Club meetings, where the speaker said to bomb North Vietnam back into the stone age. His daughter was about to be married. One problem is the death of a beloved dog, Spot. SIG023.
1967 was much more appealing than the 1944 reality of capture by Germans. BP, however, was an optimist, and eventually an optometrist. It was all about how you see things. BP saw soldiers with piano teeth, and corpses with blue and ivory feet. SIG024. Soon, the captured Amerikans were paraded in front of a movie camera. There was no film in the camera, but the POW did not know that. On the horizon was a puff of smoke. A battle was being fought, and soldiers were dying. SIG025.
Eventually, the POW were loaded into train cars. The cars were marked with orange and black stripes, as a signal to the allied bombers. Later, when Barbara Pilgrim was married, the tents at the reception had orange and black stripes. The reception was in no danger of enemy bombers, even though it was hosted by a time traveling former POW.
While on the train car, BP had to endure a conversation with a geriatric Colonel, whose lungs rattled like greasy paper bags. The Colonel invited everyone to a barbeque in Cody WY. After a while, PG was ushered into a different train car from the Colonel, who outranked him. Soon, word arrived that a man had died in another car. SIG026. The deceased combatant was Wild Bob. SIG027. BP was chatting with a hobo, who said he had seen much worse than this. Little did he know what awaited him. Or maybe he did know. This is the end of chapter three.
At the start of chapter four, we learn that BP’s wife is named Valencia. Her daughter has just been married, before having a reception in an orange and black tent. BP is having trouble sleeping, and goes downstairs. There is a half empty bottle of champagne. Yes, the bottle is half empty, not half full, as if that is an important distinction on Tralfamadore. BP pulls the cork out of the bottle, and there is no fizz. The champagne is dead. SIG028.
Soon, the spaceshop … no mister clumsy typist, it is a space ship, not a space shop. … the spaceship from Tralfamadore lands in the back yard. Trallies do not speak. However, they have a voice synthesizer which imitates earthling sounds. This tactic is employed for comic effect in the movie. While BP is screwing Montana Wildhack, the voice machine asks if they are mating.
Nobody dies during the Tralfamadorian abduction, and there is no occasion for an SIG. This is made up for when BP returns to the POW train. First, the hobo says “You think this is bad? This ain’t bad.” SIG 029. Then, there is a death in the car ahead of BP. Roland Weary succumbs to gangrene, brought about by marching, in wooden clogs. SIG030. Roland Weary blames BP for his death.
This is one of the moments when PG feels a bond with BP, who, it should be remembered, is a fictional character. You meet someone, under bad circumstances, who is an asshole. Something bad happens to the asshole, who follows the asshole tradition of looking for someone to blame his misfortune on. The lucky person is you. It is not always pleasant. This thought may, or may not, be with BP as he finally gets off the POW wagon. BP is the next to last person off the train. The last person off is the dead hobo. SIG031.
When the POW arrive, they are led to a pile of clothing. It was overcoats, taken from other POW, who are now taking the German dirt nap. SIG032. BP gets a civilian coat, with a fur collar. It is way too small for him, and looks like a three cornered hat. SIG033.
BP meets Edgar Derby, who will play an important role in this story. We already know this. KV does not like suspense. Mr. Derby cradled the head of Roland Weary as the asshole left the planet. SIG034. KV cannot resist the temptation to tell us what will happen to Mr. Derby in sixty eight days. SIG035.
By now, BP is naked. This is part of the introduction to POW life. By coincidence, when BP went to Tralfamadore, the first thing they said to do was take off the clothes. BP is being deloused, which is an underrated function in wartime. The clothing of BP goes through a chemical process that kills lice, bacteria, and cooties. SIG036. This is the last SIG in this installment.
Before long, BP time travels back to Tralfamadore. The trallie is explaining a few basic things to BP. At this point we get the most important quote in SF. PG read this in 1978, and never forgot it. PG looked for this quote on the internet, and nobody thought it was important enough to share. It is amazing that this should be so esoteric, as this quote is at the end of chapter four.
“If I hadn’t spent so much time studying Earthlings,’ said the Tralfamadorian, ‘I wouldn’t have any idea what was meant by “free will.” I’ve visited thirty-one inhabited planets in the universe, and I have studied reports on one hundred more. Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.”
On The Road: The End
The On The Road series is sputtering to a halt. PG seems to remember doing the first 2 chapters of part 4. He did not copy the link to the overview. The next step is to review the last 15 days of posting, to see if it turns up. It turns out PG wrote The Bike Wreck in the waiting room of a doc-in-a-box.
The injured shoulder is still a problem. Such is the life of an old fogie. Dean Moriarty/Neal Cassady and Sal Paradise/Jack Kerouac both croaked in their forties. Life fast and leave a pretty corpse. Pictures of merry prankster Neal are not pretty. Even compared to William F. Buckley, Kerouac is not pretty. Maybe the best thing to do is wallow in youtube degenerate research, take notes, and put off writing this book report one more day.
A few slack days passed. Just bite the bullet, start to write something, and maybe the creative juices will kick in. In chapter 3, Dean arrives in Denver. D&S go out looking for kicks, and come home without getting kicked. “Say, Dean gets crazier every year, doesn’t he?” “I had finally found the castle where the great snake of the world was about to rise up.”
In chapter 4 of part 4, the crew starts to go to Mexico. D&S now have a third stooge, Stan, who gets bitten by a critter, and needs to go see a doctor. Soon, they are in the endless travel vortex of Texas. “Texas was undeniable; we burned slowly into Abilene and woke up to look at it. “Imagine living in this town a thousand miles from cities. Whoop, whoop, over there by the tracks, old town Abilene where they shipped the cows and shot it up for gumshoes and drank red-eye. Look out there” yelled Dean out the window with his mouth contorted like W.C.Fields.” At some point, Dean quits talking for a few minutes, then starts back again. Soon, the border came and went.“Behind us lay the whole of America and everything Dean and I had previously known about life, and life on the road. We had finally found the magic land at the end of the road and we never dreamed the extent of the magic.”
“The boys were sleeping, and I was alone in my eternity at the wheel, and the road ran straight as an arrow. Not like driving across Carolina, or Texas, or Arizona, or Illinois; but like driving across the world and into the places where we would finally learn ourselves … These people were unmistakably Indians and were not at all like the Pedros and Panchos of silly civilized American lore — they had high cheekbones, and slanted eyes, and soft ways; they were not fools, they were not clowns; they were great, grave Indians and they were the source of mankind and the fathers of it… For when destruction comes to the world of “history” and the Apocalypse of the Fellahin returns once more as so many times before, people will still stare with the same eyes from the caves of Mexico as well as from the caves of Bali, where it all began and where Adam was suckled and taught to know.”
Before long, the boys were in Gregoria. A guide named Victor appeared. Soon los muchachos tienen marihuana para fumar. The next verse, in this Gregorian chant, was a visit to a whorehouse. “Soon it would be mysterious night in old gone Gregoria. The mambo never let up for a moment, it frenzied on like an endless journey in the jungle. I couldn’t take my eyes off the little dark girl and the way, like a queen, she walked around and was even reduced by the sullen bartender to menial tasks such as bringing us drinks and sweeping the back.”
“I was set upon by a fat and uninteresting girl with a puppy dog, who got sore at me when I took a dislike to the dog because it kept trying to bite me.” Dean had no such troubles. Dean Moriarty, or real life destination Neal Cassady, was a legendary stud. Everybody Knows, Nobody Cares, Or: Neal Cassady’s Penis. When you ask if the Cassady hopalong was cut, or uncut, you are directed to That time Gore Vidal porked Jack Kerouac. To Mr. Vidal’s surprise, Mr. Kerouac was circumcized.
As Allen Ginsberg/Carlo Marx knew, Neal’s goodies were not for ladies only. At one point early in their relationship, Carolyn Cassady/Camille saw more than was customary and reasonable. “What was so wrong with three people who loved each other sharing a bed at the same time? Lu Anne asks in “One and Only” (Heart Beat … shows Carolyn discovering Lu Anne in bed with Neal and Allen Ginsberg.)” Lu Anne Henderson, Marylou in OTR, was Neal’s first wife.
The boys go on to Mexico City, another gone party out of control. Sal gets some kind of tourist bug, and is deathly ill. “I didn’t know who he was anymore, and he knew this, and sympathized, and pulled the blanket over my shoulders.” Dean needs to get back to his wives, and leaves Sal to fend for himself. You knew I was a scorpion when you gave me a ride.
Part five is only a few pages long. Sal gets back to New York eventually. Dean sends him a letter. “I wrote to Dean and told him. He wrote back a huge letter eighteen thousand words long, all about his young years in Denver, and said he was coming to get me an personally select the old truck himslef and drive us home.” This letter was said to inspire Sal’s not-writing-typing style, and may have been plagiarized. “The letter was put up for sale at Christie’s in 2016, but failed to reach the $400,000 minimum. It was offered again in March at Heritage Auctions, where Emory purchased it for $206,250, including buyer’s premium, according to information on the auction house’s website.”
So much for the gasoline soaked adventures of Dean and Sal. The previous installments of this series are available. part one part two part three part four part five part six Pictures for part seven today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Rules For Writing
PG was recently reading a list of rules for writing. He began to think of a few. A wordpad was opened, and before long 18 suggestions appeared. When you publish a list like this, you are placing a target on your back, with the word hypocrite written above. PG does not claim to take all these suggestions all the time. What follows is a goal to work for, not a script for a situation comedy.
When in doubt, shut up. … A halo is best worn over one ear.
You have two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk.
If you want to be forgiven, forgive. If you want to be understood, understand.
There are few situations that cannot be made worse with anger and loud talk.
A douche is a hygiene appliance. The verb form refers to using this device, for cleaning purposes. Neither the noun nor the verb is appropriate for use as an insult.
A sentence has one period, placed at the end. Do not place a period after every word to make a point. You should find another way to show emphasis.
Before you “call out” somebody for “racism”, drape a towel over your mirror.
Not everyone enjoys the sound of your voice as much as you do.
Do not place “ass” between and adjective and the object. “Ass” is a noun that refers to either a donkey or a butt. An adverb is used to modify an adjective, and is placed before the adjective. Using “ass” as a misplaced adverb is improper.
The third commandment says to not use the word G-d “in vain”. The G-word should only be used for worship and respectful discussion. Improper uses include expressing anger, swearing to, selling life insurance, and pledging allegiance to a nationalist symbol.
This is a repost from 2011 and 2020. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library” … PG was reading facebook, minding his own business, when he saw something that made his head explode. It started with a post with the splashy title White Liberals Have White Privilege Too! . There is something about online discussions about white privilege that make well meaning people want to type a lot of words. PG usually avoids such a conversation, as if it were an amway pitch, but made an exception this fateful afternoon.
The seminal article was written in 2007, and mentioned the media controversy of the day. It seemed as though Joe Biden said “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy … I mean, that’s a storybook, man.” 2011 UPDATE: Mr. Biden is currently the Vice President, serving under the FMAA. 2020 UPDATE: Biden the Elder is currently serving as President of the United States.
There was a link to a bit of archaic html called ” Black People Love Us!, which tells the story of Sally and Johnny… “We are well-liked by Black people so we’re psyched (since lots of Black people don’t like lots of White people)!! We thought it’d be cool to honor our exceptional status with a ROCKIN’ domain name and a killer website!!” The fun starts when a facebook paster quoted a letter to BPLU.
“I swear, if one more white person says that they want to touch my hair, I am gonna puck a f*ckin mousetrap in it so their f*ckin hand gets caught in it. anyways… GET WITH THE PROGRAM! Have any of you ever heard of sarcasm? Irony? Satires? Canterbury Tales? Shakespeare’s “As You Like it” and “Much Ado About Nothing?” If some of you would actually get your heads out of your asses for one second and read a f*cking book or get educated, you will see that this website is NOT trying to break down PEOPLE, but break down BARRIERS and erase STEREOTYPES…With much love for Sally and Johnny… A Black University of Michigan Student with nappy-ass hair”.
The resulting visual ruined the day for PG. BUMS should keep their pants on, and not burden the world with the sight of nappy hair on their posterior. The same thing goes for any asian, latino, caucasian, native american, or zorlack with this problem.
Dietary Pros & Cons
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Buddhist Diet: How It Works and What to Eat Dietary practices Pros & cons
Five-Alarm Fire Caused By Voodoo Sex Ritual Gone Wrong
A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it; and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.
Voices of the X-iled Paperback – August 1, 1994 by Michael Wexler
Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace: “a permanent migraine”?
David Foster Wallace on What’s Wrong with Postmodernism: A Video Essay
Noahpinion California needs real math education, not gimmicks Armand Domalewski.
International Norms Get Messy On decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine.
Military briefing: cluster bombs offer Ukraine swifter end to war Ammunition shunned …
Civilian Deaths from Cluster Munitions – Ukrainian Use of Widely Banned Weapon
Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal faults by concealing …
A BUDDHIST monk teaches you the FIRST 3 BREATHING TECHNIQUES of mindfulness
How to Turn the Sound on Your Phone Off: A Self-Help Guide for Fuckwits
guy sharpe ~ repost ~ brandon keeler ~ stambolian ~ tm
pow ~ alijah ~ repost ~ jimmie dodd ~ the truth
you only live twice ~ citibike ~ repost ~ dfw audio ~ irony
incel ~ bobby carlson ~ tom waits ~ racket news ~ censors
fishwrapper ~ lost pig ~ hp lovecraft ~ 1001 short stories ~ podcasts
habibi bros ~ fellirium ~ andre watts ~ curious ~ whoopi goldberg
tm ~ jarrett ~ jimmie dodd ~ restaurant story ~ duane moody ~ mary s. little
@chamblee54 Is .@kittypurrzog REALLY a Muslim? If she is, then she should provide details on the show. When was she converted? What branch of Islam does she practice? What is the name of the mosque where she attends services? @tracewoodgrains .@jessesingal – If .@kittypurrzog is NOT a Muslim, then she needs to quit saying that she is. This joke was NEVER funny. It is possibly *racist*, or anti-Islamic. – In the context of this particular show, the “as a Muslim” joke is especially tacky. A young man, with an Islamic background, was mercilessly grilled by a lawyer for using the term “raghead” in a comedy routine. For Katie to make her “as a Muslim” joke in this context is wrong. ~ This is a repost from 2011. The link in the story has gone bye bye, but does lead to this: Five-Alarm Fire Caused By Voodoo Sex Ritual Gone Wrong. The comments below are timeless. Fishwrapper comments used to be fun to read. ~ If you take an “intense chocolate” product, you must miss Georgia ~ have i talked to you since monday? I decided to go to that party i spoke of last week, but take marta instead of parking. As i approched the dunwoody station, a man a few seats ahead of me started crouching in the aisle, and looking under a seat. then he took something out of his bag. he was holding a utility knife, WITH THE BLADE EXPOSED. I very quickly got off the train at the next stop, which fortunately was my intended stop. … ty i have ridden the doraville line hundreds of times, and nothing like this ever happened. this was the first time i went on the north springs line … outside of getting on the wrong northbound train, and going to the first station to turn around ~ so i listened to this podcast today. a lady has 2 rings stuck on her fingers. someone says you can go to a fire station and have them cut it off. she goes to a san francisco firehouse, and they cut one ring off, and use industrial strength lube to get the other off. the fireman say that usually when someone comes to them, to remove a stuck object, that the object is stuck on a penis. ~ Will0090: “So tell me more about yourself. Most importantly what you seek on the site” piersgavestonjr: “seeing what ai thinks i will respond to” ~ @chamblee54 .@googlefiber PLEASE quit showing that ad of the Asian lady shopping for fruit. Every time I see a @YouTube video, I see that ad I TOLD YOU, quit showing that ad of the Asian lady shopping for fruit. ~ president Eisenhower made this comment during a commencement address at Dartmouth College, on June 14, 1953. However, the full quote is troubling. “… Don’t be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as that document does not offend our own ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship.”Our existence as Gay men is offensive to the “ideas of decency” held by many. ~ In today’s flashback, an outtake from Episode 107, my conversation with D.T. Max, New Yorker staff writer and author of Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace, which was published by Viking in 2012. ~ monday i rode on marta. it was the first time on the red line, after thousands of trips on the gold line. as the train pulled innto dunwoody, a man crouched in the aisle, and took something out of a bag … a utility knife, with the blade exposed … tuesday was another day. i ate at waffle house. the cook, who is a hot young man with a dozen tattoos, talked to me more than the last time i was in there … wednesday was the news that someone i knew had died. while i did not especially appreciate this person, i had no conflicts … on thursday, i had to get some polite leather shoes,. after striking out at target, shoe supply, tj maxx, and burlingtons, i found something i liked at shoe carnival … friday i went to the gym. i tried to meditate in the sauna, but a man played his radio on the external speaker. the other guys agreed that he was an asshole … saturday was the big day for life my mothers best friend died at 104. i was told there would be a visitation at 10, and the service at 11. the plan was to take my brother, who would stay for the service. services make my skin crawl, but i wanted to support the family by going to the visitation. i put my new shoes, and long pants on. i went to the first baptist church. they told me to go in the decision room at the end of a long lobby. i went in the door, and got in line. the line did not move for a half hour. finally, the man came and told us to go to the sanctuary. it struck me as a very baptist thing to have happen … sunday, i told my friend about the incident on marta. he told me what i should have done ~ @LindseyGrahamSC I support and appreciate the Biden Administration sending cluster munitions to Ukraine ~ @seanmdavWhat do you think is the most egregious example of government corruption in your lifetime? – @martyrmade The RussiaGate hoax and related spying scandal. It required so many people and institutions to cooperate in the corruption that no individual bribe or coverup even comes close. And in addition to destroying the credibility of the media, DOJ, FBI, intel community, and more, the Russia collusion lie resulted in half the country transferring their violent hatred of Trump & his supporters onto a nuclear superpower. ~ pictures for this festering midsummer morticia are from The Library of Congress ~ selah
Chamblee54 
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