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Statues, Memory, And Soil
I’ve been reading lately about the heated atmosphere surrounding the removal of statues of Confederate figures in New Orleans. I know those statues and have often used them to give directions to people attempting to get to various places in the French Quarter. I’ve followed the story of their plight with some interest, as I am from the South and this IS a particularly and peculiarly Southern problem. The South is dotted with statues, obelisks, plaques, and other monuments to the glorious heroes and fighters of the Lost Cause. Now, mind you, when you grow up in the South, as a young child it can be a LONG TIME before anyone ever tells you THAT THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO LOST THE WAR! I had extraordinary parents who did do and at an early age. I reasonably asked,”Then why are there statues of them everywhere?” My father sighed and replied, “This is the South; that is a difficult question; you’re much too young for hard liquor.”
Personal history aside, I’ve heard the arguments that we should leave these things up for the sake of history and as some sort of teaching instuments. I find those argument totally and completely spurious. For the sake of history? Like the entire South is going to have a complete bout of amnesia, should the monuments get taken down? The battles of the Civil War and the struggles upon which it was based-that of slavery and man’s oh-so-human urge to trample wholesale on the rights of others based on skincolor-are soaked into the very soil of the Southern states. Southerners, whether there by birth or geographical accident and whatever their race-are confronted with the legacy of the slavery every day, like it or not. I hardly think that the absence of some statues will make us forget. Not when we’ve got neighbors who persist in flying the Confederate flag from their pick-up truck or porch. Not when we’ve got the legacy of Jim Crow lingering in our voting districts, our laws and our attitudes. Not when when we’ve got a resurgence of white supremacists looking back fondly to a society that exists only in fiction and calling it the South. I’m not sorry to see the statues et al. coming down. As for the “Never forget!” contingent, some of us are busy trying to build a new society, not hark back to the Old Dixie that lives mainly in your beer cans and fevered imagination.
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Twin Peaks Revisited- Let Me Rave Again A Damn Fine Show
Spoiler Alert
This show was a cult hit back in my day. From the very first episode I am overwhelmed with reasons why it become so popular. I find myself drawn back into the strange dream-like world immediately. This time however I am able to stand apart and marvel at what the show does and how it does it. I’m no professional film critic, mind you. Here is what I see:
From the very beginning both graphics and music are used cunningly to aid the plot. You see Agent Cooper driving in and remarking on the beauty of the trees. Notice how the words themselves are reinforcing the background of the landscape. This happens in other places, as in the scenes where Agent Cooper is in his motel room. He usually adds a short memorable phrase to his assistant that always describes his motel room. Add to this the skillful use of haunting music. Not too much, just enough. I heard it at the edges of my dreams all night.
The show is so uncluttered. In Episode 1 there was a fight in the roadhouse that almost appeared like the characters were performing a stylistic dance. Even in scenes in the forest you see just what is necessary and nothing more. This restraint extends to the characters’ language, too. They say just what needs to be said without extraneous verbiage. This restraint extends to other aspects of the show as well. I sometimes have “watched” other shows merely by listening to them while I did something else on the computer. Not Twin Peaks. I want to experience every detail, because everything matters.
The use of language is amazing. From the iconic phrases that spring from Agent Cooper’s interactions with the town-“a clean place at a reasonable price”, “a damn, fine cup of coffee”, just to list a couple-to the way that Norma and Shelley describe a day of beauty, the wording is pithy, well-chosen, and to the point. I’ve found myself repeating catch-phrases from the show during the day just b/s they have such mouthfeel.
Lastly, but never least, with his characters Lynch skates the fine line between caricature and portraiture with such artistry that I am bedazzled. Agent Cooper is the very image of the straight-edged Feebie…but he has visions of firewalking and gets his clues by deep intuition. The sheriff is the stereotypical small-town sheriff….who just happens to belong to an age-old secret society that protects the town from ancient evil. The plot itself centers around the murder of the home-coming queen and most popular girl in town…who is turning out to hold secrets connected to everyone in town. No-one and nothing are what they seem. Yet all of these characters ARE those things they appear to be. It’s just that in the world of Twin Peaks, there is SO much more to their story and to the story of Twin Peaks itself.
I’m conflicted about Season 2. How can it possible measure up?
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Trump’s Religious Liberty Executive Order-A Call To Arms
If this was an actual repeal of the Johnson Amendment, I would be greatly alarmed. BUT, like many of Trump’s orders, this is sturm und drang aimed at mollifying his more conservative Evangelical Christian followers and as usual it failed to do even the job for which it was designed. I’ve read the order and some some excellent analyses of it. In the end, it boils down to little more than Trump instructing to tell the IRS to do something it does anyway. No religious leaders or organizations have actually been persecuted under the Johnson Amendment. It is more of a cautionary “Smokey Bear” threat looming in the horizon- and often ignored in the breech. During the recent election, especially, pastors took to the pulpits to give their opinions on both candidates and give moral guidance on politcal issues. And no IRS agents appeared at their doors.
The order also contains some language designed to give companies that are religiously owned and operated more leeway in terms of granting their employees birth control. WHY is this still an issue? There a work-around built into the ACA that allow the insurance company to do so, thus freeing the company itself doing so. (Don’t even get me started on Trumpcare.) But apparently this does not go far enough. I suppose religious organzations like Hobby Lobby (snort) and Little Sisters of the Poor want it taken totally off the table. I disagree that they should be allowed to do this. They are NOT in the business of healthcare and should not be allowed to dictate what healthcare their employees receive. But I digress. The language of Trump’s order about this is incredibly vague and doesn’t really say anything beyond a call to draft new rules letting businesses draft rules that would allow them to avoid giving employees contraception and that ALREADY is in place.
So. Trump by himself cannot repeal the Johnson Amendment. THAT takes an act of Congress. He is being sued by the Freedom from Religion Foundation (GO ATHEISTS!) on behalf of secularists everywhere, since the ACLU declined to bring suit. I would like to see what would happen if more pastors, priests, preachers, imams, rabbis, Pagans of all stripes, Hindus, Sikhs, Pastafarians, Satanists, etc started taking advantage of this “religious liberty” order! Let’s hear from ALL of you, not just Trump’s far-right anti-LGBTQ xenophobic Neo-Con Fundies! Let’s get political, people! Let’s PARTY…and I’m speaking DEMOCRAT SOCIALIST!
