Todays Post is one of your best, Garrison, b/o the fine words of the posters and your mild answers. How can we not love the musical and other inserts! From Luisa Mayer, former Minnesotan in Boston
What a privilege to be a “white” man in America. The privilege to casually engage in “silliness” after seemingly sincere attempts to assuage the feelings of those whose ancestors were massacred and enslaved en masse in this country. Feelings rightly addressed by your contrition, and then slapped away in a later post with more “silliness” about Lee, and (loudly) hinting at Calhoun. If reincarnation would ever be possible, it’s my hope that “white” people be gifted with another skin color next time ‘round.
I’ve read and listened for longer than I can remember, but this soured me.
I feel bad about Lee being treated respectfully in an old Writer's Almanac. Stupid. The renaming of Lake Calhoun is trivia, pure and simple. The white settlers who took over Indian lands that the government had stolen in broad daylight loved Indian names and Minnesota has hundreds of them, meanwhile nearly two hundred years later some tribal reservations suffer abject poverty and wretched schools while a few thrive on casinos or oil and gas deposits. A name is a name is a name, but the cruelty is to the children deprived of a good start in life. That is a basic human right that we can all agree on, left, right, center. John C. Calhoun is a tiny historical footnote. Forget him and do something to improve the schools. Now you have made this white privileged man good and pissed off. A good way to start my day.
My day was sullied, first, by your cavalier attitude to the pain of others unlike yourself. Yes, I agree that healthy food, safe drinking water, decent health care and housing are basic human rights, as is an education which provides truthful, factual historical information. “A name, is a name…” further trivializes honorifics.
It's too bad you're not here at my breakfast table so we can talk through this instead of insulting each other, but insults are fun too in their own way. Your day is rather easily sullied, sweetheart. If I'm "cavalier," then you are a wilting daffodil.
I hope we will agree to disagree. I think my subscription to The Writer’s Almanac will happily continue— it's brimming with scintillating historical material on writers and others who made a mark on this world. I also loved listening to the folksy humor and lighthearted entertainment on A Prairie Home Companion. But this
conversation with you, whether observed, or direct, is disappointing. You are who you are, sweetheart.
You are easily disappointed, darling. As for the Almanac, I will happily discontinue it this spring. I don't think a privileged white male has any business talking about history and who made a mark on the world. I'm going to enjoy the privilege of being an observer.
Sad, but I agree. We need a widespread Truth and Reconciliation movement in the country, so we can come to some commonality of perspectives. Still, I will miss the Almanac. Be well.
A small (I hope) cavil on Gen. Robert E. Lee: first, by all accounts the best general in the war - even if a demonstrably bad man. But, as is often said, Arlington Cemetery is NOT on "his" land. The plantation was his wife's, and Lee only had, at law, a life interest in it. Small thing, but an historical fact.
You may not believe Texas exists, but I grew up there. The reason I became enamored with PHC was that it reminded me so much of the small town of 2500 or so folks where I spent my childhood. It may not have a Moon City, but being economically oriented, it does have a Dime Box!
When our family went to Minnesota every summer from 1966 to 1975, we would stop in Minneapolis to see the first aunt's family, then to Winona (via the Milwaukee Road on the trips we flew) to visit the second aunt and our grandmother. In the Twin Cities we always swam at Lake Harriet or Lake Calhoun, both simply destinations to me.
Remember that all of the Indian tribes also massacred and violently fought one another for a thousand years. Those lakes have probably had five different names. I'll stick with the ones I remember.
And, yes, so sad about the situation in South Minneapolis now. Exact opposite of the 1970s...
"Lower case Saints!" Ha! As a volunteer librarian at a Russian Orthodox Monastery/Seminary, I had the opportunity to hear many excerpts from "The Lives of Saints" with meals in the dining hall over a period of six months. As I recall, practically every vignette began with "What a terrible person this individual was until their moment of conversion!"
Yes - as you say - this sort of "sainthood" wouldn't be available to you, Dear Host, because there's surely nothing you've ever done in this mortal life that would be "Devilish" enough to qualify! Pointing out the TRUTH to those who are misled about the activities of the former President who was legitimately voted out of office, for example - is much more on the side of the Angel Gabriel blowing his horn, than otherwise! There's "method in your silliness," the results of which we genuinely cherish! More Power to you, "Sainted" or not!
As an ardent fan of GK and APHC, I write to thank you for Helen Porchek Schneyer’s “On the Glory Hallelujah Line”. I had not heard of her or the song. Oh my! I often pass up those little arrow thingies that imply ‘play this’ but with your work, I know better!
With regard to Arlington National Cemetery, my contribution here is that Pennsylvanian William Christman, a relative of mine, was the first to be buried there. Two others were buried there on that day, but he was first. No war wounds, a rather ordinary illness that today would have been treated with modern medicine.
I am in the long line of your ardent supporters who hope against hope that GK’s APHC will be resurrected shortly in some fashion. Our 1942 birthdays are just days apart and time’s a-wastin’ here. We’d best not tarry!
The mention of the book, "The Lives of the Saints" brought back painful memories for me. My uncle and his wife lived upstairs from us until I was 7. She was a certified paranoid schizophrenic and a fanatical Catholic who listened to Cardinal Cushing (a.k.a. Cardinal Cushion) recite the Rosary on a Boston radio station every morning. After my mother told her that I was a good reader, she loaned me that book and encouraged me to read it. I read a few random chapters and was horrified. After that I had a recurring dream which I referred to as "The Catholic Horror." It started with an encounter with a bloody corpse hanging by its feet and slowly swinging back and forth in the dark. After I escaped from that scene I was confronted by a dark wall with pulsating eye that looked like Hal in "2001". (The dream occurred during the mid-to-late 1950s, but I did see the movie when I was in college and loved it.) You had to tell Hal the date of your birth, and if it corresponded to the date he was thinking of, you won. If not, you lost and woke up in a terror. I never won, although I realized when I was older that the chances of winning were 1 out of 365.25, not too bad for a lottery. Needless to say, I drifted away from Catholicism more than 50 years ago.
I wanted to express an appreciation for your appearance in Carrollton, Georgia last night and for the inclusion of Robin and Linda Williams. The long established ease each of you have with the other was evident, like watching old friends adjust and correct to get the flow of conversation just right. And thanks for the singing. I realized that it created an intimacy in the space and connected everyone in the audience, strangers became that tenor on Row J or that Soprano on Row B. Voices merged and blended. It also connected individual listeners to themselves and those times over the path of years when they first heard those songs and who was there with them. So it was both vertical and horizontal in dimensions present and past. Nicely done. The topic of the evening swirled about funerals. I found myself wondering if this was planned beforehand or if the spirit of the moment might move you to the left or right in your tales and choices of songs. The eulogy theme reminded me of the examination of my Christmas card list this past December. I'm realizing that there are now multiple gaps that death has brought to my community of friends, the list now reflecting a Christmas tree where many of the lights has become permanently extinguished. So the evening became more personal than I anticipated but existentially felt, which was a good and true thing. My wife and I had driven over for the performance from the east side of Atlanta and the traffic was a vicious thing. But the evening in the Performance Center became a still point that slowed life down and deepened the living of the moment. Your sharing of yourself assisted in that. Thanks.
Regarding Franz Jägerstätter and sainthood, it is interesting to note that this exemplary man was vilified by fellow Catholics of his time and long afterward. He was not beatified until 2007. His sacrifice is discussed in context at https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101975125?q=Franz+J%C3%A4gerst%C3%A4tter%2C+O.F.S.&p=doc.
Todays Post is one of your best, Garrison, b/o the fine words of the posters and your mild answers. How can we not love the musical and other inserts! From Luisa Mayer, former Minnesotan in Boston
What does b/o mean, Luisa? To me it means b.o. and is to be avoided.
Hah! You know this shorthand, worksaver.... you are not a computer writer, I think.
What a privilege to be a “white” man in America. The privilege to casually engage in “silliness” after seemingly sincere attempts to assuage the feelings of those whose ancestors were massacred and enslaved en masse in this country. Feelings rightly addressed by your contrition, and then slapped away in a later post with more “silliness” about Lee, and (loudly) hinting at Calhoun. If reincarnation would ever be possible, it’s my hope that “white” people be gifted with another skin color next time ‘round.
I’ve read and listened for longer than I can remember, but this soured me.
I feel bad about Lee being treated respectfully in an old Writer's Almanac. Stupid. The renaming of Lake Calhoun is trivia, pure and simple. The white settlers who took over Indian lands that the government had stolen in broad daylight loved Indian names and Minnesota has hundreds of them, meanwhile nearly two hundred years later some tribal reservations suffer abject poverty and wretched schools while a few thrive on casinos or oil and gas deposits. A name is a name is a name, but the cruelty is to the children deprived of a good start in life. That is a basic human right that we can all agree on, left, right, center. John C. Calhoun is a tiny historical footnote. Forget him and do something to improve the schools. Now you have made this white privileged man good and pissed off. A good way to start my day.
My day was sullied, first, by your cavalier attitude to the pain of others unlike yourself. Yes, I agree that healthy food, safe drinking water, decent health care and housing are basic human rights, as is an education which provides truthful, factual historical information. “A name, is a name…” further trivializes honorifics.
It's too bad you're not here at my breakfast table so we can talk through this instead of insulting each other, but insults are fun too in their own way. Your day is rather easily sullied, sweetheart. If I'm "cavalier," then you are a wilting daffodil.
I hope we will agree to disagree. I think my subscription to The Writer’s Almanac will happily continue— it's brimming with scintillating historical material on writers and others who made a mark on this world. I also loved listening to the folksy humor and lighthearted entertainment on A Prairie Home Companion. But this
conversation with you, whether observed, or direct, is disappointing. You are who you are, sweetheart.
You are easily disappointed, darling. As for the Almanac, I will happily discontinue it this spring. I don't think a privileged white male has any business talking about history and who made a mark on the world. I'm going to enjoy the privilege of being an observer.
Sad, but I agree. We need a widespread Truth and Reconciliation movement in the country, so we can come to some commonality of perspectives. Still, I will miss the Almanac. Be well.
thanks for your specificity on apt recommendations Garrison ~ Kare Anderson
A small (I hope) cavil on Gen. Robert E. Lee: first, by all accounts the best general in the war - even if a demonstrably bad man. But, as is often said, Arlington Cemetery is NOT on "his" land. The plantation was his wife's, and Lee only had, at law, a life interest in it. Small thing, but an historical fact.
Garrison,
You may not believe Texas exists, but I grew up there. The reason I became enamored with PHC was that it reminded me so much of the small town of 2500 or so folks where I spent my childhood. It may not have a Moon City, but being economically oriented, it does have a Dime Box!
I have little choice but to believe you. Thanks.
When our family went to Minnesota every summer from 1966 to 1975, we would stop in Minneapolis to see the first aunt's family, then to Winona (via the Milwaukee Road on the trips we flew) to visit the second aunt and our grandmother. In the Twin Cities we always swam at Lake Harriet or Lake Calhoun, both simply destinations to me.
Remember that all of the Indian tribes also massacred and violently fought one another for a thousand years. Those lakes have probably had five different names. I'll stick with the ones I remember.
And, yes, so sad about the situation in South Minneapolis now. Exact opposite of the 1970s...
"Lower case Saints!" Ha! As a volunteer librarian at a Russian Orthodox Monastery/Seminary, I had the opportunity to hear many excerpts from "The Lives of Saints" with meals in the dining hall over a period of six months. As I recall, practically every vignette began with "What a terrible person this individual was until their moment of conversion!"
Yes - as you say - this sort of "sainthood" wouldn't be available to you, Dear Host, because there's surely nothing you've ever done in this mortal life that would be "Devilish" enough to qualify! Pointing out the TRUTH to those who are misled about the activities of the former President who was legitimately voted out of office, for example - is much more on the side of the Angel Gabriel blowing his horn, than otherwise! There's "method in your silliness," the results of which we genuinely cherish! More Power to you, "Sainted" or not!
As an ardent fan of GK and APHC, I write to thank you for Helen Porchek Schneyer’s “On the Glory Hallelujah Line”. I had not heard of her or the song. Oh my! I often pass up those little arrow thingies that imply ‘play this’ but with your work, I know better!
With regard to Arlington National Cemetery, my contribution here is that Pennsylvanian William Christman, a relative of mine, was the first to be buried there. Two others were buried there on that day, but he was first. No war wounds, a rather ordinary illness that today would have been treated with modern medicine.
I am in the long line of your ardent supporters who hope against hope that GK’s APHC will be resurrected shortly in some fashion. Our 1942 birthdays are just days apart and time’s a-wastin’ here. We’d best not tarry!
The mention of the book, "The Lives of the Saints" brought back painful memories for me. My uncle and his wife lived upstairs from us until I was 7. She was a certified paranoid schizophrenic and a fanatical Catholic who listened to Cardinal Cushing (a.k.a. Cardinal Cushion) recite the Rosary on a Boston radio station every morning. After my mother told her that I was a good reader, she loaned me that book and encouraged me to read it. I read a few random chapters and was horrified. After that I had a recurring dream which I referred to as "The Catholic Horror." It started with an encounter with a bloody corpse hanging by its feet and slowly swinging back and forth in the dark. After I escaped from that scene I was confronted by a dark wall with pulsating eye that looked like Hal in "2001". (The dream occurred during the mid-to-late 1950s, but I did see the movie when I was in college and loved it.) You had to tell Hal the date of your birth, and if it corresponded to the date he was thinking of, you won. If not, you lost and woke up in a terror. I never won, although I realized when I was older that the chances of winning were 1 out of 365.25, not too bad for a lottery. Needless to say, I drifted away from Catholicism more than 50 years ago.
I wanted to express an appreciation for your appearance in Carrollton, Georgia last night and for the inclusion of Robin and Linda Williams. The long established ease each of you have with the other was evident, like watching old friends adjust and correct to get the flow of conversation just right. And thanks for the singing. I realized that it created an intimacy in the space and connected everyone in the audience, strangers became that tenor on Row J or that Soprano on Row B. Voices merged and blended. It also connected individual listeners to themselves and those times over the path of years when they first heard those songs and who was there with them. So it was both vertical and horizontal in dimensions present and past. Nicely done. The topic of the evening swirled about funerals. I found myself wondering if this was planned beforehand or if the spirit of the moment might move you to the left or right in your tales and choices of songs. The eulogy theme reminded me of the examination of my Christmas card list this past December. I'm realizing that there are now multiple gaps that death has brought to my community of friends, the list now reflecting a Christmas tree where many of the lights has become permanently extinguished. So the evening became more personal than I anticipated but existentially felt, which was a good and true thing. My wife and I had driven over for the performance from the east side of Atlanta and the traffic was a vicious thing. But the evening in the Performance Center became a still point that slowed life down and deepened the living of the moment. Your sharing of yourself assisted in that. Thanks.