That’s not the cowboys I remember

I wrote most of this a year or so ago and never got around to posting it.  It makes more sense now than before, so here it is:  

It is hard to overcome the notion that trespass, even trespass by a very, very large herd of sheep, justifies murder by hanging.  To justify that, 1923, the Paramount streamer series, works hard to paint the Irish immigrant sheep herder into a scoundrel and evil doer.  It thus turns on its head the long-honored Shane-based meme of the evil big time cattle boss v. pathetic shepherd.  This is not the OxBow Incident either. No remorse here.  Harrison Ford hangs’em high and is proud to say it. 

1923 is a mash up of Tom Mix cowboy legends. Here the bad-ass cattlemen, mine owners, bankers and other heroes of the Capitalist movement stand tall with Ernest Hemingway strong men in defense of manliness and, more importantly, plucky, murderous womanhood.  It leaves Tom Mix scratching his head, and Hemingway happy he had picked up that shotgun. It’s a pretty site in a world where there is no room for the poor and downtrodden. 

1923 has three positive features.  The first is scenery, in Montana and in Africa and even on the ocean blue, where large passenger ships cut their way through calm waters and what’s er name and her lover Stanley stand beautifully on the prow repeating the well-worn meme from Titanic.  The second is pacing, the art of keeping the audience looking forward to the next chapter by leaving someone hanging off a cliff.  And the third is women … Helen Merrin, tough and feisty fearless enough to blow away that poor bastard Irishman who dared mess with her pasture land.

I admit not watching 1883, the prequel to 1923, or Yellowstone to which 1923 is prequel. I prefer my cowboys to be old school.  Hopeful folks who landed at Ellis Island in search of the land of opportunity, not Ammon Bundy looking for a free ride at the taxpayer’s expense.  

 

Bit Parts

 

In the first three episodes of Gilmore Girls, note the harpest.  Alex Borstein. 

Just Take the Trolley

 

The City of Omaha has approved a $440 Million project to build a trolley system.  Its’ boosters and planners say the system, which will be tied to a new Mutual of Omaha skyscraper in the city center, will be a substantial catalyst for development.  The city’s consultants say it will pay for itself through tax increment financing.  Warren Buffett says it’s a “mistake set in concrete.”  According to The Oracle of Omaha you are better off to invest in bus system improvements than put all your money in hard-wired rails.   To be honest, I am not certain who is right. 

But here is a story for you.  Me and my friend P.M. were recently driving home from Florida and at the last minute changed our route (to avoid the usual I-95 mess), so that we would overnight in Charlotte.  Standard procedure is to scan the internets about an hour out from our destination to find lodging and food.  Our goal is always a clean, moderately-priced motel, not too far off the route, and near dinner.  For dinner we had our eyes on a place called the Aria Tuscan Grill, but conceded in advance that the Grill was too far off the route and concluded we would have to find an alternative.   So we arrive at the motel (actually a conference center affiliated with UNC) and discovered it is in easy walking distance of a trolley line that connects the UNC with downtown.  So down town we went.

It was a cold and rainy night but the walk to the station was only three of four city blocks.  We ended waiting out in the bus shelter for about 15 minutes and boarded a modern, clean train.  One of our fellow passengers, a student, suggested we get off at the arena station, as that would provide a good chance of finding a good place to eat.  The Hornets were playing that night so the city center was crowded.  (Who knew they had an NBA team?)   So we strolled around the arena in one direction, and then reversed and strolled a few blocks in the opposite direction and there, just two blocks from the trolley, was Aria Tuscan. 

The restaurant was packed but there were seats at the bar.  The menu looked excellent and was definitely more than what we might normally spend.  But there is a prime rule about vacation… enjoy.  Might have been the best meal ever that was not just barbeque. A good time was had by all. 

On the subject of trolleys, I am still agnostic. 

Is This AI at Work?

 

Or does USA Toady need smarter writers?  I know the corporate publishing world no longer sees a need for editors (because they can't afford them), so let me suggest that they just hire smarter writers?  The Toady publishes a book section in which they provide a picture of covers of five newly published books along with a two-paragraph summary of the work.  This week, the headline says: “Novels by Minka Kelly, Sunny Hostin: What to Read this week.”  Problem is Ms. Kelly’s book is not a novel, it’s a memoir.  You would think someone who edits a book section in a major national publication would know the difference.

A related note for the writer from a Friday Night Lights fan.   Lyla Garrity was anything but a “spoiled teenager.”  Her father was an overbearing drunk and philanderer, the love of her life suddenly became a paraplegic in a football game, and his best friend was available.  With a little help from Jesus and the Coach’s wife, Lila held it together just fine.  Nothing spoiled about Lyla.  

The Arc of History Bends Towards Justice.

 

B. Traven comes to mind today because of an article in today’s NYT that documents the seizing of unused land from rich Brazilians by the Landless Workers’ Movement (LWM).  Active for about 50 years, LWM settles whole villages on fallow land, creating an opportunity for poor people to grow functional farming communities from scratch. 

Best known for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Traven was a revolutionary whose radical works included a series of six books in what is known as The Jungle Books, which track the lives of indigenous Mexican wage slaves in the years leading to the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920)  The fifth book of the series, Revolution of the Hanged Men describes a rebellion in a debtors labor camp where mahogany was harvested. In a nutshell, the rebellion succeeded, the workers freed themselves, and the people marched away in search of Land and Liberty. 

The LWM has been operating in Brazil for some 40 years and has been surprisingly successful, given the long history of inequality and political suppression. As LWM's  leaders point out, "Occupation is a process of struggle and confrontation."  LWM’s leaders, who call themselves “militants,” have organized hundreds of thousands of Brazil’s poor to take unused land from the rich, settle it and farm it, often as large collectives.  (Imagine this happening in the USA.)

Even under Brazil’s former fascist president, Jair Bolsonaro, there were about 15 successful land occupations undertaken per year.  In the first four months of leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva's presidency, which started January 1 of this year, there have been 33 occupations.  This poses a dilemma for Lula de Silva, a longtime movement supporter, who still has to deal with wealthy landowners and corporations, while maintaining the confidence of his unlanded base.

The LWM can demonstrate some significant achievements.  Communities it has built support some 2,000 schools educating children who would never otherwise have an opportunity to get an education.  And the Times highlights one community that has been legally recognized since 2016, where 227 families, each owning from 20 to 35 acres, share tractors and plows, and grow organic fruits and vegetables for themselves and for market. 

 

 THAT ROCK N ROLL MUSIC

I’m still a fan of American Idol, but I often fast-forward through many performances.  Usually, if the choice is some modern pop operatic hit from Adele or Sea or Pink or Ed Sheeran and nearly anything modern country I can’t tell one song from another.  They all sound alike to me.  Gimme that old time Rock n Roll, or Motown, or Rhythm and Blues or outlaw country or Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline.  I am seldom entertained by whatever passes for music to today’s boppers. 

Now comes Ed Sheeran’s lawsuit over Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On to confirm my observations.  Sheeran told the court that the songs at issue have “almost identical” chord progressions and added "Most pop songs can fit over most pop songs."       

 

Don't Let It Get Your Goat!

You can't pick up the sports page these days without reading about the GOAT.  Tom Brady or Michael Jordan or some other person deemed to be the Greatest Of All Time.  That usage does not square at all with my recollection of the word goat, which historically has meant: 

"a person who is blamed for causing a failure or defeat, esp. in a team sports competition." 

This definition comes from the Cambridge English Dictionary, which seems to be one of the last places where that use is still recognized.

Any internet search will tell you ... frantically but emphatically... the term means greatest of all time,  and it has always meant GREATEST OF ALL TIME.  It is  almost as though there has been a concerted effort to wipe the original offending word (which by the way, is only a short step away from the widely used scapegoat) from the language.  Are the publicity flacks who were responsible for throwing the term all over Tom Brady suddenly afraid that the THE GOAT will read a dictionary?  Or have the sports writers awakened from a bad dream in which they actually had editors who demanded to know why they were calling Brady on his game?