Showing posts with label American history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American history. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 25, 2020

ON THE AVENUES: A few thanks to give as we eagerly await Trump's forthcoming eviction.

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Consider it a quasi-retired blogger’s fallback credo in times of holiday-inspired gluttony. "Cutting and pasting leaves more time f...
Monday, September 07, 2020

Fire in the Hole.

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Just a wee bit of clarity, then some music, and finally a benediction. The content herewith is derived from past posts. Labor Day is M...
Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Life with the Macbeths.

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The Astor Place Riot figures prominently in Shakespeare in a Divided America , by James Shapiro. On the evening of May 10th, 1849, th...

WHEN THE MUSIC'S OVER: This three-hour documentary film about George Corley Wallace is a must-watch.

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I didn't expect to embark this week upon a long-delayed detour through the life of George C. Wallace (1919-1998) in order to process w...
Saturday, August 01, 2020

Puppet Man.

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This is a long but highly worthwhile read. I'd like to think it couldn't happen here, but we all know better. Ft. Wayne's cou...
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Sunday, July 12, 2020

"The United States of America is, by its very nature, anti-Black."

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Some will be tempted to stop reading after the first three paragraphs. This would be shortsighted. Get past the discomfort, and immerse y...
Saturday, July 04, 2020

Independence Day? One, as Charles P. Pierce writes: "We're in Another One of Those Moments Where the Great Bluff Gets Called."

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The speeches referred to by Pierce are lengthy, eloquent and worthy. In my estimation, they're best read prior to hamburgers and firewo...
Friday, June 19, 2020

Three oddball factoids from American history.

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"Well, that was some weird shit." -- George W. Bush, surveying Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017 Following are three w...
Thursday, May 28, 2020

"The pandemic patchwork exists because the U.S. is a patchwork to its core."

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A long read but entirely worthwhile. Throughout American history we see the many instances of an unprepared country muddling through a c...
Friday, April 10, 2020

"America won the cold war. What went wrong?"

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Tear down the (Berlin) wall, 1991. The writer Andrew Bacevich: "Globalisation was meant to create wealth, but many Americans comp...
Saturday, March 28, 2020

I need to read this: "American Rule: How a A Nation Conquered the World but Failed It's People."

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It's exactly who we ARE, and it's who we've always been. I'm confident Howard Zinn would be in full agreement. The book ...
Friday, February 28, 2020

Recommended COVID-19 reading: "The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History," by John Barry.

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In 2005, just as the 7th edition of Gravity Head started (today's is #22), I came down with pneumonia. The book already on my nightst...
Thursday, November 28, 2019

LIVE TO EAT: "Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving?"

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Thanksgiving at Churchill Downs? In 2016 we chose to spend the Thanksgiving holiday week in Catania, Sicily. Afterward more than one pe...
Saturday, November 16, 2019

What strikes me about switchel, or old-fashioned haymaker's punch.

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More at the The Old Farmer's Almanac Thanks to my friend MB for posting on Facebook about switchel, a bit of Americana with which I...
Sunday, September 08, 2019

"America's 'democratic experiment' is inextricably tied to the history of slavery."

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Solid, thought-provoking essay for Sunday morning coffee. But maybe you'd rather be watching a film derived from a comic book. Ame...
Monday, September 02, 2019

Labor Day 2019: It SHOULD be honored on May 1. Today is a boss's holiday, but we'll celebrate with songs about working people, and thoughts by Dan Canon.

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Just a wee bit of clarity, then some music, and finally a benediction. The content herewith is derived from past posts. Labor Day is M...
Saturday, July 20, 2019

Dicky, meet Jeffrey: "I Am Not A Crook: How A Phrase Got A Life Of Its Own."

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Funny dude, that Richard Nixon. From 2013, this explanation. 'I Am Not A Crook': How A Phrase Got A Life Of Its Own ( NPR ) ...
Wednesday, July 03, 2019

Frederick Douglass: "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" (2019).

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Dave Zirin, one of a select group of sportswriters who really matter, introduces a speech by Frederick Douglass , originally delivered in...
Thursday, January 17, 2019

All about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, which is no laughing matter.

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History is endlessly fascinating. Does anyone remember the London Beer Flood of 1814 ? The Boston Molasses Flood Is Worth Taking Serio...
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