Monthly Archives: April 2012
Quote of the Day
“Is this the best we could do?”
– Former Republican candidate Jon Huntsman, on the question that crossed his mind as he stood on the debate stage in Iowa last August with his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls.
No wonder he dropped out of the race – he has too much common sense!
Filed under News
Still Searching for Harper Lee
Among American writers, Harper Lee remains one of the most enigmatic. It’s been over 50 years since the reclusive author published To Kill a Mockingbird, but the breakthrough novel remains a bestseller, translated into dozens of languages, and is central to school curricula across the world. The prestigious Folio Society is offering a cloth-bound version of this classic at a discounted rate for members.
To Kill a Mockingbird is somewhat autobiographical. Like its central character, Scout, Nelle Harper Lee grew up in a small Alabama town; “quite the little tomboy,” according to her sister Alice who, at age 100, is still practicing law. The Lee sisters’ father, Amasa Coleman Lee, was a lawyer who served 12 years in the Alabama state legislature. In 1931, when Harper was 5, 9 young Black men were accused of gang-raping 2 young White women, a certain death sentence in those times and in that place. The defendants, who were nearly lynched before being brought to court, were not provided with the services of a lawyer until the first day of trial. Despite medical testimony that the women had not been raped, the all-White jury found the men guilty of the crime and sentenced all but the youngest, a 12-year-old boy, to death. Six years of subsequent trials saw most of these convictions repealed and all but one of the men freed or paroled.
Lee was close friends with the more flamboyant Truman Capote. In 1959, she traveled with him to Holcomb, Kansas to cover the murders of the Clutter family; what they both thought would be a minor criminal affair. Lee ended up working as Capote’s assistant on the story, which culminated with In Cold Blood. But, by the time Capote published his masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird had become Lee’s own magnum opus. It arrived on the literary scene just as the nation was experiencing a major upheaval in social politics and race relations. The book was a turning point in how America viewed itself and its proclamations of true equality and personal freedom.
However, it is the only book its author Harper Lee wrote and she has never been interviewed in almost 50 years. Her Greta Garbo-like reclusiveness from the literary world has only increased interest in her, and – as often happens in the lives of such people – rumors replaced facts. Some claim Capote is the true author of To Kill a Mockingbird; that she is descended from General Robert E. Lee; and that her mother had twice tried to drown her as a child. Lee, obviously trying to stay above the ridiculous fray, won’t respond to such accusations.
Last year President Obama presented Lee – who will turn 86 on April 28 – with the prestigious National Medal of Arts. Naturally she did not attend the ceremony. Recently though, he recorded an introduction to a re-release of the 1962 film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.
This enduring fascination with the novel and its mysterious author will keep Lee at the forefront of modern American literature.
Filed under News
April 25, 2012 – 239 days Until Baktun 12
Survivalist Tip: Today a relative of mine had minor knee surgery. Minor, of course, is purely subjective whenever doctors put you under anesthesia and you end up with a full bladder and can’t urinate because of the anesthesia. But, this reminds me of the importance of getting any elective surgical procedures out of the way before the apocalypse. This includes wisdom teeth extractions, appendectomies, mole removals and halitosis treatments. You don’t want to have to deal with the pain of the healing process while struggling to survive and keep kids, pets and paranoid spouses in line. Emergencies notwithstanding, give yourself plenty of time to get these procedures done and then get over the agony of the aftermath. And, from what I understand, recovering from halitosis treatments can be a real pain the gum line. This also includes having plenty of pain medicines and antibiotics in your cache of supplies. Pharmacies will be among the first businesses to be attacked by people who didn’t prepare for the upheaval. If you do have the misfortune of encountering a medical emergency in the midst of the chaos, hopefully your medicines will stabilize you until you can reach a physician. If not, just say to hell with it and make peace with the Mayan deities.
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
Today’s Notable Birthdays
If your birthday is today, “Happy Birthday!”
Director Paul Mazursky (Harry and Tonto, An Unmarried Woman, Moscow on the Hudson, Down and Out in Beverly Hills) is 82.
Meadowlark (George) Lemon (Harlem Globetrotters) is 82.
Actor Al Pacino (The Godfather series, Serpico, Scent of a Woman) is 72.
Bass guitarist Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 67.
Singer – guitarist Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA) is 67.
Actress Talia Shire (Godfather series, Rocky series) is 66.
Actor Jeffrey DeMunn (Ragtime, Frances, The Shawshank Redemption, The X Files) is 65.
Singer Andy Bell (Erasure) is 48.
Filed under Birthdays
On April 25…
1719 – Daniel Defoe published The Life and Strange Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
1831 – The New York and Harlem Railway was incorporated in New York City.
1859 – At Port Said, Egypt, ground is broken for the Suez Canal.
1874 – Guglielmo Marconi, inventor who helped propel wireless communications, was born in Bologna, Italy.
1908 – Journalist Edward R. Murrow was born in Greensboro, NC.
1917 – Singer Ella Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, VA.
1928 – The Seeing Eye foundation presented its first dog, Buddy, to Morris S. Frank.
1954 – The prototype manufacture of a new solar battery was announced by the Bell Laboratories in New York City.
1959 – The St. Lawrence Seaway opened to traffic, saving shippers millions of dollars in transportation costs.
1967 – Colorado Governor John Love signed the first law legalizing abortion in the United States. The law was limited to therapeutic abortions when agreed to, unanimously, by a panel of three physicians.
Filed under History
Quote of the Day
“It’s becoming obvious to everybody that this campaign is winding down. He’s talked about being a fiscal conservative in the past. So now is the time for him to, I guess, put his mouth where our money is and stop the Secret Service protection.”
– David Williams, president of Taxpayers Protection Alliance, on calls for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to withdraw his run for the presidency.
Breaking news: Gingrich has exited the race, like Elvis once exited a room. I can see it now – Gingrich standing on Pennsylvania Avenue with a sign that reads: “Please help – need delegates – God bless.”
Filed under News
Past – Future
One key aspect about celebrating “Earth Day” is a call for people to reduce their carbon footprint. That includes recycling and either utilizing as few natural resources as possible, or wisely using what we have. People are encouraged, for example, to “think green and keep it on the screen;” that is, not wasting paper to print something. The “Earth Day” movement began in California, so it was interesting to see The Los Angeles Times’ 17th Annual Book Festival, held at the University of Southern California on April 22, practically celebrate the printed book. The festival took an interesting approach to the future of publishing with its panel, “Future Books: Media in the Digital Age.” It looked to the past to help gauge the practicality of what many see as the growing acceptance of e-books.
Moderator Holly Willis, Director of Academic Programs at the USC’s Institute for Multimedia Literacy; Anne Balsamo, professor at USC’s Annenberg & School of Cinematic Arts and Director of Learning, Annenberg Innovation Lab; Steve Anderson, Assistant Professor of Interactive Media at USC’s School of Cinema-Television and Associate Editor of the journal Vectors; and Catherine Quinlan, Dean of USC Libraries, collectively offered dialogue on the dual excitement and anxiety surrounding the future of reading. But, they centered mostly on the past.
Balsamo showcased examples from her experience developing the interactive museum exhibit “XFR: Experiments in the Future of Reading” created by the group RED (Research on Experimental Documents) at Xerox PARC in the late 1990’s. Accessible through the Designing Culture website, many of these provided a dose of retrospective humor, like the future-from-the-past vision of Terry Gilliam’s 1985 movie Brazil: XFR’s Tilting Tables, for example, or the Reading Eye Dog, which “translated” the printed page, and as Balsamo mentioned, was designed as a dog since interacting with a canine seemed markedly superior to interacting with a humanoid robot. (Sometimes, people seem to be able to relate better to dogs than other humans.)
Anderson scanned some of the new media from his book and website Technologies of History, in particular in his project “Technologies of History Interactive,” a composite of experimental film, television, video games and digital media that explores how we relate to the historical events of our lives.
Quinlan closed the panel with a discussion of the library’s challenge in storing, preserving and ensuring access to digital media, such as Anderson’s project. As she mentioned, “the more recent the medium, the more quickly it rots.”
This may seem like typical California tree-hugging experimentation, but I can see the greater purpose. You can’t fully grasp your future unless you thoroughly understand your past. New technologies are great, but only within the context of the people who use them. People loathed, even feared computers a generation ago and scoffed at Bill Gates’ outrageous idea to make them personal and intimate by putting one in every home. Even in the early 1990’s, few could have imagined how Microsoft and the Internet would change the American landscape. Today, few people have e-readers, including me. But, just a decade ago the concept of reading a book from a computer screen on your lap sounded as ridiculous as the personal computer did 20 years earlier. We’ll see where all that ambition takes us in the ensuing decade.
Filed under News
April 24, 2012 – 240 days Until Baktun 12
Survivalist Tip: Along with your healthy supply of fruits and vegetables, I recommend adding carrots to the mix. Carrots are not indigenous to the Americas. Europeans brought them over, which like horses, makes up for the typhoid they also brought. First cultivated in Afghanistan, carrots were originally purple, white and yellow, but not orange. Dutch growers developed the orange carrot in the 16th century. Carrots are rich in carotenoids, an antioxidant that helps to combat cell damage. They’re about 87% water and a single cup of raw carrots contains 52 calories. Carrots keep for a long time, so you can stock up on them without much worry. Don’t bother with baby carrots. That’s like a baby bar of chocolate. Are you kidding me?! Carrots may not be good alongside chocolate, but they taste great either raw or cooked. Besides, a well-aimed carrot can take out the eye of an intruder. Just wash it thoroughly afterwards.
Filed under Mayan Calendar Countdown
Chief Writing Wolf 