Yesterday, I saw Barack Obama’s motorcade cruise down Airport Drive. It was Monday. He was en route to speak at our city’s high school graduation, a graduation big enough to reserve the gymnasium at our local state college. Last year on the same date, they reserved the same gym and then dispersed for various parties around the city. That was mid-afternoon. By six o’clock, a twister tore my town in two.
Since May 22nd last year, everyone from Time to the Times, from ASPCA to FEMA, from the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street has said something about the events surrounding the tornado. Most of the people talking about the events got here a few days too late. The way my professor taught it, investigative journalism is supposed to… y’know… investigate what really happened. Though I’m no journalist, I’d like to tell you the truth about how our city set the pace for fast recovery.
By “fast recovery” I mean our people hopped to work long before any aid agency set up shop in Jasper County. Those of us able to fog a mirror and flex a bicep tossed rubble out of the way, dug out the trapped, the injured and the deceased. Continue reading →
In my Storyssentials post on Research, I talked about how a storyteller must assign himself homework. Mine involves a decent amount of gilded age reading (and viewing). Some might assume I want to write steampunk. Though this coming series employs some steamy elements, I wouldn’t classify it that way. For one, few use steam. For another, I focus more on that period in American history and the issues that arose for us as a people, issues we still wrestle through today. Some of the things I’ve shared in the past were homework like the Houdini biography. Recently, I finished the film The Gangs of New York and the book A Pickpocket’s Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York.
Gangs brutalized and soiled what few glimmering pictures I had left of Nineteenth-Century New York City. Had I not just finished Tale, I would have thought the violence and prostitution a bit overdone—the thing of Hollywood sensationalism where we glorify violence and devalue sex. Unfortunately, the movie treated Five Points mercy, glimpsing the crest of the iceberg of gilded age government corruption. Boss Tweed, as Gangs hints, ushered in the peak of corruption in New York City, brutalizing the poor with his police forces and gangs. I guess it’s really not that different from today’s brutality, only with shootings and stabbings and lynchings poured over the top like tar.
Timothy Gilfoyle in Tale follows around historic George Appo–the son of an Irishwoman and a Chinaman–as he works his way from Donovan’s Lane onto a juvenile delinquent work-ship called “The Mercury.” From that floating death trap (or “floating Sodom” as the people called it back then), Appo hopped in and out of prisons like Sing-Sing, Clinton, Eastern, an insane asylum and less serious places like Blackwell’s Island—DiCaprio’s prison at the start of Gangs. In reality, Blackwell’s was a joke. Prisoners checked themselves in for better living conditions than what slums like Five Points offered and checked themselves out with nothing but a couple of chums and a rowboat. Continue reading →
Thanks to Yewknee for sharing Small Demons with me back in October. I refrained from sharing with all of you Literators back then because, frankly, there was so little to share. Sometimes beta-testing looks like questing with your half-orc across frozen wastelands until the game glitches and dies, sometimes it looks like stress-testing Google Wave.
At other times it looks like this:
…
…
…
So I’ve been waiting and waiting for Small Demons to put enough content up for me to share it with all of you. Today’s the day.
The Cartographer’s Guild encouraged me in my map making. Since then I noticed how maps disinter our understanding of the world. Maps do not show us where things are or where things were. They reveal who we are and how we think.
Take Hecataeus:
He’s missing a couple two or three continents. His world is all he sees. Continue reading →
As an aficionado of Gilded Age America, I covet all things wood, brass and leather. I made a board about it on my Pinterest immediately after receiving my confirmation e-mail last June. If you scroll through, you’ll see a lot of steampunk but that’s only because steam-punky things take up a very small sliver of Gilded Age lore. There’s also tons of stuff you might find at The Art of Manliness site or even the old Whiskerino themes. Basically, some day I want to work in an office that crosses that of Indiana Jones:
No I’m not gay. No it’s not sexual. I just greet other men with kisses. Oh, it’s not every man I meet – only close friends that know me. The ones who know me seem not to mind. The ones that did mind at first are fine with it now and often kiss me back. No, not on the lips. I reserve those for my wife and grandmother.
I picked it up from hanging out with Arabs my summer as a college freshman. In Arabic (and many other honor-shame) cultures, men greet men with kisses. In Lebanon, it’s three on alternating cheeks: right, left, right. Don’t mix up the order or you might end up making out with some old Lebanese doctor. In parts of Saudi, they alternate kisses on the tips of their noses. Bosnians and some Serbians do two kisses. I think Greeks do the same, or perhaps I’m conjuring up a scene (real or imagined) from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It’s an intimate greeting between close friends. Continue reading →
After listening to the propaganda streaming out of FOX, CNN, MSNBC and other national media, I got the impression that OWS was a violent group of rag-tag aimless children that put up some tents in a park. But why take their word for it? I went on a search for myself…
Nonviolent - Occupy George stamps infographics on one dollar bills to raise awareness about the political influence of the wealthy 1%. It’s illegal – it defaces federal currency – but nonviolent. No reports of physical harm coming from this site.
Goal-Oriented – “Money talks, but not loud enough for the 99%. By circulating dollar bills stamped with fact-based infographics, Occupy George informs the public of America’s daunting economic disparity one bill at a time. Because money knowledge is power.”
Seems like a clear goal to me, not some aimless kids throwing maltovs.
Public - “LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The intent behind Occupy George is not to render any money unfit to be reissued, and in fact the hope is that all stamped money will circulate as much as possible, passing knowledge to all those who come across the bills.” Aside from offering a rebuttal to the defacing claim, this shows how broad they hope to get. Continue reading →
(When we last left our heroes, they were sipping Arnold Palmers and laughing at small children playing watermelon ball in the pool…)
Lance Schaubert: You did mention moving up the political ladder at some point?
Mike Bowers: At some point. I’d like to serve three or four terms as mayor. What I’ll do at the end of the third year of every term is look at how affective we’ve been, where we’ve moved forward. If it every appears like it’s growing stagnant, not moving forward, it’ll be time for me to step aside, let new blood in there, let some new ideas come into play and move the community forward. But if at the end of the third year, if we’ve still got things going in a good direction, we’ll stay on that local level. If an opportunity presents itself for state representative where I can still serve my local community, we’ll research that opportunity.
LS: Would you see that progressing to national?
MB: Probably not. The thing we run into in Greenville is that John Boehner is the speaker of the House of Representatives, so I don’t forsee me unseating him in the near future. Plus, I don’t know if I’ll live that long.
LS: At the state level, in light of the benefits of small government, what do you think could curb that rise to power from becoming more important than the reason you began?
MB: Stay true to yourself. I know oftentimes that’s easier said than done, but our current state representative shared that with me when I became Mayor. It makes things much easier for your public and constituents. To try to move outside of that and be something you aren’t is not right. The State of Ohio had a budget crisis from the previous administration. Fortunately our revenues are up, so the State of Ohio has gone up from twenty-ninth best place to do business to fourth or fifth best state, as far as tax structure and all that. We’re moving in a positive direction. We’ve got to keep doing those things, and to cut spending and some services will have to be consolidated at a local level. Government can grow itself as big as it wants to be and when government starts to grow itself to that degree, the only thing that will support that is an increased tax structure, and that can put too much burden on the people.
LS: Some would say that the local church can help lift that burden. In what ways would you say that the local church is the hope of the world – locally, in the state, and on a national level?
MB: Church structures lend a lot… you can probably runs good correlations from the small town country churches to larger churches to even the mega churches being similar in scope to what a state government would be. One thing I’ve noticed is when you start to operate on that realm, you start to put programs out there, which mirrors the world. I think when you go back to small church or country church, even what local governments look like, it’s people helping themselves as opposed to looking to programing to be the answer. On a church level, when people look out for one another, that’s where the “Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship.” Those relationships start to develop and become more important than religion.
LS: How can that be implemented in, say, New York City where church planters are headed?
MB: In that level, you’re meeting people at their need. You’re meeting people where they are, and I believe that if a church plant is done correctly, you’re there building relationships before you’re trying to supplant your thoughts on top of theirs and bully people or strong-arm people. You’re presenting a relationship to them, getting to know them one-on-one, and that’s when people see Jesus Christ.
LS: I’ll shift gears.
MB: Didn’t know we were on a manual transmission.
LS: [laughs]. Every small town has its eccentricities, so what are some of Greenville’s?
MB: We probably get… we’re small town America. We’re agriculturally based. We’re number one or two every year in agricultural production for the state. People look at those things and see it as a hick town. From an economic standpoint, when farmers are making money, farmers are spending money, and they spend locally. It’s been a great support for our downtown. That’s an important piece for what makes our city grown. Those are the roots you need to stay with – dance with who brung ya. Manufacturing along with agribusiness are the roots we need to stay with, that’s what always made Greenville strong and will continue to. One thing that was nice about that was an ethanol company call the Andersons that brought that in. Very moral, high-integrity company. they were presented with a thing from a national level from the Department of Energy – you might have heard of carbon sequestration, but they try to take this CO2 which was a byproduct/waste product of ethanol production. Federal government was trying to figure out how to spend carbon credits. It was the coal-fire energy production facilities. You’ll hear people talk about clean coal and all that stuff. …We were very fortunate when the national government brought in research from a company called Patell, out of the city of Columbus. They do a lot of great things. One of thing they wanted to do was put the CO2 emmissions down through our single-source aquifer and into the mount simon sandstone. It puts from a liquid into a supercritical state, letting it be pumped. They wanted to take it through our single-source aquifer – which, water is our most valuable resource in any city, county, state. Our aquifer is one of the fastest recharge aquifers in the U.S. There were just some concerns in how they wanted to do that – it seemed like it was getting pushed through. The Andersons, to their credit, just stepped back and waited for things to come to light. They wanted to do some testing to see if the soil would even be amenable to that process, putting charges out in these farmers’ fields. Well, farmers for generations in our county have lived off that land. They know where the drainage systems are because their father, grandfather, great-grandfather knew where it was and it was probably never put on a map, but it’s still there. When they mess with that ground, they mess with their livelihood. It was a perfect example of city, township, county governments working together to say, “we don’t agree with your testing process so we’re not going to allow it unless you can say with 100% certainty that it won’t affect our land or our single-source aquifer.” So when they couldn’t come back with that, it was a done deal. We had trustees, town commissioners, city officials, the state of Ohio all come in for the meeting, ODoT.
LS: Sounds like an Erin Brockovitch thing you prevent.
MB: Water’s such a vital commodity that if anything goes wrong.
LS: Water table or lake?
MB: Water table – single-source aquifer two-thousand feet down. HUGE if anything becomes contaminated. We’d now be a ghost town. But some company would have gotten carbon credits for slammin’ CO2 under this mount simon sandstone. In concept it’s a good thing to look at. In theory. But to come to a community our size and say we’re going to do this experiment here… we’re not laboratory animals.
LS: Something for out in the middle of nowhere.
MB: That’s not gonna effect…
LS: Thirteen-thousand people.
MB: Yeah. Again, taking this unproven science and trying it on us is not a good thing. Take it somewhere else. Prove your science. Then bring it here.
LS: Yeah. Good Point. Now, did I see a picture of you in drag?
MB: No comment.
LS: [laughs]
MB: Umm… I did dress in women’s clothing to support breast cancer awareness. Yes.
LS: With crutches?
MB: No, this was two years ago. I passed this year.
LS: So the same crew got together?
MB: Different guys. All three years. A couple had a few guys that have done it two out of three times.
LS: Just out of the sheer joy of dressing up like a woman?
MB: Just out of the sheer…
LS: [laughs]
MB: [laughs] …just out of the great cause that it was. In good spirit with everyone. One of the small town things that makes people coming together for that cause something that was good. This year they had over six-hundred participants, because right after they do the “walk a mile in her shoes” where the guys dress up in pink and high-heels, they have a five mile run/walk that had 600+ participants. Great event. Great community. Great cause for breast cancer awareness. Feet never hurt so bad in my life.
LS: You wore heels?
MB: Yeeah. First year I wore these pink boots as Annie Oakley’s younger sister. Black cowgirl outfit, pink high heel boots. Second year they put me in a regular dress with pink high heel Dorthy-from-OZ shoes.
LS: Littered with Sequins?
MB: Yeah, I wasn’t pretty in that one either. Both years I’ve been one of the ugly participants.
LS: Good thing, all things considered.
MB: Yes, my mom’s proud I was a boy. She’d have a very ugly daughter.
LS: [laughs] How easy was it to get away for something like this – like Indiana Beach?
MB: Fairly easy. The nice part about my job, about being raised in Greenville, is family. So I don’t pass on events like this. With today’s technology, I can answer emails and pass on info. I’ve got a great secretary and a safety service director that have the same thoughts for where we need to take Greenville in the future. It’s nice to rely on them. I call him every day.
LS: Smartphones and the whole bit?
MB: Yes. Now if I was only as smart as my smartphone…
LS: Yeah, I remember when I was at Congress the handful being on their two-week recess and I always wondered if that was a true recess.
MB: I think they get away a bit. There’s so much going on at the federal level. Most people would have a hard time wrapping their hands around it. We’re moving forward with things, and one of the hardest to overcome is the rumor-mill because once someone hears it wrong, they don’t take time to get the facts, then they’re just apt to stir things up, and not taking time to get to the heart of the issue. The nice thing is our new Economic Director. He and I have a nice working relationship, so typically any rumor that’s come about, we’ve already addressed the issue. One thing that helps the most is praying for discernment and wisdom. Fortunately, I have a very good wife that prays for me every day. Prayer covers a lot of areas. I’ve got to look at making decisions that are the best for 13,000 people. God’s been great to me and my family, but also Greenville in that regard.
LS: Ever come into contact with any big names on a governmental level?
MB: I’ve had the good fortune to meet John Boehner a half-dozen times. His legeslative assistant is Ryan Day. Ryan’s very much on top of things. He does a very good job of communicating back. John, being Speaker of the House, doesn’t get a lot of free time. He’s got a friend in Greenville that’s been a very good mentor to me – his name’s Marv Stahman. He’s a retired bank president, customer service, how to take care of people. It’s those type of folks that make it great. Even in his retirement days, Marv still wants to see Greenville move forward. That’s been nice.
The critics somewhere are poking fun of Indiana Beach, I’m sure. They’re making fun of the lazy river for being named “Action River” – the antithesis of lazy. They’re laghing at the pond-scum covered sand in the makeshift beach. They’re scoffing at the water park that, if Schliterbahn is a 10, ranks somewhere around the 1 end of the spectrum. Milk’s shooting out their noses as they laugh at the wooden coasters that shrink only a few hours north from Holiday World’s award-winning thrill rides. The condos wouldn’t be big enough, the lake not wide enough, the trails not daring enough, the food not delicate enough for their liking. They might even take a jab at the patrons who, like me, wore palm tree board shorts and a plaid pearl-snap shirt together.
Go Hoosiers, Uncle Gary.
(No, I don’t review fashion or sports).
Taken as separate entities, the water park, theme park, arcade, condominium, lake, trails, shops and food joints rot away next to competitors like Schliterbahn, Holiday World, and Six Flags LA (is that even still open?)
But we didn’t take them separately for family vacation. Our condo was inside the park grounds so I walked a meek 100 feet to the water park and theme rides. I could cart-wheel thrice in the morning to land on the boat dock and hit the glassy surface of Lake Schafer at seven A.M. whichever days I wanted. (Weeee bit of a morning person). There was plenty of space to write, read three books, play cornhole with the fam, make a giant whirlpool, learn to wakeboard finally, eat homemade french fries, towel-pop my cousin’s boyfriend with a colossal rat-tail, try two new coasters (both worth it), loose my lucky white kerchief in the lazy river only to find it again and watch fireworks explode over the water from the vantage point of the scrambler (some mortar debris landed in our seat). Yes, critics, you’re right. When taken alone, the component parts of Indiana Beach are lame compared their peers.
Taken together, they made the perfect family vacation.
It’s unhelpful to segregate separate segments of a unified whole in order to tear it down. What would be more helpful would be to compare it against other all-inclusive family vacations.
Seriously, if it was good enough for Al Capone to build a house there, it’s good enough for me.
Orange and Mickey Mouse beach towels hang over a green chain link pool fence, a pool with rules like “if you’ve had diarrhea in the last two days…” and “no open epidural-layer sores allowed.” We’re at the land of palm-tree board shorts and plaid pearl snap shirts – Indiana Beach. Yes, there is more than corn in Indiana.
While on family vacation with Kiddo’s side of the family, I figured I could knock out one of these Ask the Experts interviews. It just so happens that our uncle, Mike Bowers, is fast approaching his second term as the mayor of small town Greenville, Ohio home to Maidrite sandwiches and KitchenAid mixers. In fact, it wasn’t until afterward that I noticed their phone numbers all begin 548, just like Salem, Illinois – my home town. It certainly wasn’t the only parallel.
I sat down shirtless, white dew rag, aviator glasses and a hairy uncle Mike joins me at the baby blue picnic table. There’s a copy of the Dragonrider’s of Pern (my doing) and The Story of Edgar Sawtell (Kiddo’s doing). I arm my recorder and we begin.
Mike Bowers: You have specific questions?
Lancelot Schaubert: Oh yeah, I’ll prompt you.
MB: Did you, uh, run those past my people?
LS: [laughs] How long have you been mayor of Greenville, Ohio?
MB: A little over three and a half years.
LS: A good three and a half, or a bad three and a half?
MB: Good three and a half. It’s always been a good three and a half. We’ve got our challenges, but over all for me it’s been good because I grew up in Greenville and it’s an opportunity for me to give back to the community I grew up in, so I really enjoy the public service piece of the office.
LS: What are some things you’re proud of?
MB: Oh boy. We’re moving some things forward. For a city of that size, the mayor is the chief economic development person. I’m pretty proud of the fact that last year out of five-hundred and some micropolitan areas we were forty-first in the country in economic development projects (that was done by Sight Selector magazine) so that was kinda nice.
LS: Over other cities?
MB: Micropolitans, so anything up to fifty thousand people.
LS: So Joplin might even count in that?
MB: Uhh… unless their population—
LS: After this year?
MB: Well, yeah this year they may be down to fifty thousand… So that award was pretty good. I’m also pretty proud of the different things we’ve done in retaining our businesses, so we’ve had our projects, but we’ve retained pretty much all the folks that we’ve got, keeping out tax base intact.
LS: Mom and Pop shops?
MB: Just everything, manufacturing all the way down. So we’ve been able to maintain the amount of jobs. We’re right now at a net gain from when I took office as opposed to job loss that other communities our size – Greenville’s a population of 13,000 folks – and so I’m pretty proud that we’ve been that successful. We’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunities that we’ve had for growth.
LS: Especially in this climate.
MB: Yeah, in the economic climate that it’s been, everything is… some days are better than others. There’s challenges you face every day, but then with those challenges come opportunities. It’s taking those opportunities and moving forward with them.
LS: “Everything from manufacturing down…” In Greenville that looks like KitchenAid and what else?
MB: KitchenAid’s our largest employer in the city. With all the employees they use, it’s about 900 employees. Then you’ve got Greenville technology who’s a parts manufacturer for Honda. They’re at about 700 folks. You have BASF, our hospital just put a fifty-million dollar addition on to it, so for a community of our size, we’re very fortunate to have a grade-A healthcare facility. It’s continuing to move forward with all those things, different quality-of-life issues that we’re able to offer that not every community our size can.
LS: And when you say grade-A, is that competing with the region?
MB: Region, and nationally recognized for the services they offer. They just opened up a dialysis unit a couple of years ago. Now they’re doing some more and they’re gonna be putting another twenty-million dollar addition onto their dialysis unit. They’re looking at growing, and being a standalone facility for our sized community… we’re very fortunate to have them there. As opposed to having to worry about a regional healthcare facility where we’d have to travel to the Dayton area for certain things.
LS: They have OBGYN?
MB: Yup.
LS: Wow. That is nice for that size of town.
MB: Yup.
LS: What parts of the job get on your nerves? What didn’t you expect? Daily grind stuff…
MB: Probably one of things, fortunately we’ve got a very good working relationship with the State of Ohio – they’ve been very receptive to the projects we’ve got going. We’re probably outside of Montgomery county, the Dayton region – which, for its sheer size, has a lot more going on. They state’s been open to the projects we’ve got. Along with that, it moves at the speed of government. They’re receptive, but it gets frustrating waiting on the time frames that they’ve got, the hoops they’ve gotta jump through, the checks and balances. It’s been frustrating switching places with the government’s office. Things just take a lot more time. When you come from the private sector and you see how things run at the speed of business, when you drop it back down to the speed of government…
LS: [laughs]
MB: …things slow down quite a bit.
LS: I know that’s frustrating for people on a day-to-day level.
MB: Well, Joplin being a bit of an example for that. You know, you have a city, state and federal government involved with a natural disaster there. Fortunately they got a lot of the bugs worked out with Katrina and some of the other natural disasters, they’ve overcome a lot of things. But there’s a lot of paperwork that bogs that process down. I’m sure there’s been frustration from the mayor of your city with the governor’s office even with the whole chain of command up through FEMA. When government works well, it’s fantastic, but it’s easy to criticize and find fault with some of the programs.
LS: Yeah, with micromanagement. I know with the Red Cross, which was a surprise, they had to get everything approved through Washington. Any move they would make, they’d call. Some of the people that read the blog actually think that the most efficient and effective form of government is small, local government. They think we should only invest our time and energy there. Have you seen any of that?
MB: Well, the niceness of local government is that local politics, party-issues are not issues. Everyone’s main concern is the community, the better good of the community and the people. The political lines are not so defined. Thoughts and ideals are not so one-hundred-eighty degrees opposites that are on a state and national level.
LS: Cause at the end of the day, several wrong steps in a row, the whole community goes under.
MB: Yeah, and it is just about the community and the people. And people really do listen to the constituents. I know it’s an easy thing to say at a state and national level that no one listens to the constituents, that they’re making the best decisions for their constituents. I don’t necessarily believe that politicians on that level always listen.
LS: Yeah, I read somewhere recently that the ascent to power becomes more important than the good that you can do when you get there. At some point, that pressure changes to where it’s more important to stay in power than it is to achieve what you went into it for.
MB: Right. The reason you typically go into something like that is for public service. I think they start to loose sight of that when they get eaten up by that political machine. Because on a national level it’s almost the platforms of the parties have made them diametrically opposed to each other just so that they can… they don’t work toward common ground, the greater good of the U.S. and the constituents and the country as a whole. They’re looking more for that balance of power to shift toward their specific party. That’s why you see a lot of earmarks, a lot of pork out there. They’re buying votes for their agenda.
LS: Which is where lobbying comes in.
MB: Which is where lobbying comes into play.
LS: Now have you come into contact with that at all?
MB: None.
LS: [laughs]
MB: Nobody’s there to lobby the local mayor.
LS: ‘Cause on Gilmore Girls, Taylor’s buying up everything for political influence…
MB: Yeah.
(The interview continues in next week’s Ask the Experts).
Now for your viewing entertainment, the Mayor of Cincinati “throwing” a first pitch:
Reading Ben Franklin’s autobiography is hilarious because randomly at the end of the first third, there’s this:
What follows was written many years after in compliance with the advice contain’d in these letters, and accordingly intended for the public. The affairs of the Revolution occasion’d the interruption.
In other words, “Hey gang, we’re gonna take a quick break for a few years to throw of British oppressors. During the intermission, feel free to grab a burger or a pretzel from one of our fabulous vendors. Mind your step. Restrooms to the right.”
The rest of the autobiography went every which way but loose and proved that Ole Ben (not to be confused with Kenobi) cared little for what everyone else thought important and meant to cover virtues and vices, and his praactice. I counted at least six “erratum” in the first section, all of which made huge emotional scars of regret in his life, all of which he attempted to correct through these virtues:
Temperance – “Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.”
Silence – “Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.” (Perhaps this provided inspiration for the pseudonym Silence Dogood?)
Order – “Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.”
Resolution – “Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
Frugality – “Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
Industry – “Love no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”
Sincerity – “Use no boastful deceit; think innocently and justly, and if you speak, speak accordingly.”
Justice – “Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.”
Moderation – “Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.”
Cleanliness – “Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.”
Tranquility – “Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”
Chastity – “Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.”
Humility – “Imitate Jesus and Socrates.”
He made this sweet Excel spreadsheet (back before they had Microsoft) and focused on one virtue every week. I need one of those, kinda like a star-chart, but based on virtues and self-assessment rather than chores or pretense (maybe Robb J.K. Jones might make one for me if I show him).
Anyway, I got bored soon after he talked about the Indians taking out several British generals because he digressed into glazing over his work with electricity and started into politics of taxes. You can tell the last part is written by an eighty-year-old man rather than the firey thirty-to-fifty year old.
I definitely recommend this one overall. I had LOW LOW LOW expectations going into it, and it was hilarious. The number one thing I learned is that men my age and younger have changed little in two-hundred years. They all struggle with the same things. So for that, Ben, thanks.
As for the racial slurs and references to “savages,” they seem inconsistent with the brilliance you noted when, for instance, Indian scouts watched you build a fort for a week without notice thanks to that coal-pit device. Clean up your mouth, Benny. As for the tax crap, be a good editor and use your red pen or give up the craft.
Words I learned:
negrofied (yes, that’s right, negro-fied. Thank your racist forefather for that one) – to blacken
concord – agreement between people, groups; harmony
incorrigable – beyond correction or reform
probity – integrity and uprightness
harangue – scolding or intense verbal attack – “Lancelot harangued Ben Franklin for being an obvious racist.”
inimical – adverse in tendency; harmful
conflagrations – an extensive, destructive fire
jocosely – given to joking, jesting
extirpate – to remove or destroy totally
prerogative – an exclusive right, privelage
celerity – swiftness, speed
ambuscades – ambushes
remonstrated – to say or plead in protest
whimsical – given to fanciful notions; capricious; upredictable
palisades – a fence of stakes or pales set firmly in the ground
loopholes – a narrow opening in a wall or ceiling as to let in light or air; or in a fortification to discharge missles
hautboy – oboe
escritoire – writing desk
enumerated – to mention separately as if in counting; name one by one; as in a list
viva voce – by word of mouth; orally; lit. “with living voice”
plenipotentiary - a person, especially a diplomatic agent, invested with full power or authority to transact business on behalf of another.
Then an EF5 tornado, whom I’m unaffectionately referring to as Clyde, ripped my town in half. Literally. (As in the second use of that term most commonly assumed to be the first use. It’s Literatingpeople. We’ve got to get that one right). They’re calling it the worst tornado in six decades of recorded history, maybe longer. We don’t know if any worse tornadoes existed because no one used the word “tornado” before that. It scared people back then. Rightly so:
So instead of writing, I’ve been pitching in with many people who are much better than I am at life and love that we might reorient this disoriented city. We love Joplin, and we hope to resurrect her.
Well, gang, here we go again. Last time, I talked on Kvothe’s Sex Life, I had only finished NOTW and started WMF. Having finished WMF, I got a flurry of questions about sex and literature and “where do babies come from” and “go ask your parents, they’ll hate me if I tell you” and so forth.
Since then, I keep returning to a handful of themes. (1) Rothfuss, as charitable and joyful as he is, would not call himself a Christian from what I’ve gathered on his blog. Because of this, it’s not helpful for Christians to super-impose theology on his books. (2) However, the man has a robust idea of what redemption is/isn’t and how resurrection plays out. He certainly expresses those opinions in the legends inside his books and in Kvothe in general. Because of this, I learn all sorts of things from him. (3) In light of these two, Christians keep asking me what I do with all the sexuality. Since Literating is a diverse place, I’ll do what I can to hit both sides of the fence, although it’s a sticky question. There will be spoilers, so if you haven’t read the book, you should not Continue reading →
Yesterday, I saw Barack Obama’s motorcade cruise down Airport Drive. It was Monday. He was en route to speak at our city’s high school graduation, a graduation big enough to reserve the gymnasium at our local state college. Last year on the same date, they reserved the same gym and then dispersed for various parties around the city. That was mid-afternoon. By six o’clock, a twister tore my town in two.
