Monday, June 20, 2011

STAY TUNED: Carpenters and Demolishers

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I'm presently writing a fairy tale about carpenters and demolishers in a world that pre-dates Reagan, Thatcher, and neoliberalism. At least that's when it begins, in the late 70s.

It's set in a time long, long ago, when there was still a decent infrastructure in the land where the carpenters lived, people could actually fight for their rights and be heard . . . there was a free press . . . there were politicians who believed in social justice . . . teachers weren't declared enemies of the state . . . public servants did a decent job . . . government hadn't been eviscerated by corporate interests . . .

And carpenters built good, solid homes. It was by no means a perfect world, but possibility was still within grasp.

The fairy tale will be posted on Margins of Everyday Life.

Thomas Hart Benton, "From My Mother's House" (1952)

11 comments:

One Who Survived said...

And pop music didn't suck! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDiCJkITtes

Too bad you're too young to remember that time.

Also, American Presidents were forced out of office for lesser crimes than Bush and Obama have committed. Enjoy "The Watergate Comedy Hour" by Burns and Schreiber, MP3 here: http://grooveshark.com/#/playlist/Prowlr1+s+Playlist+1/17771274

Anonymous said...

Yes, yes, a fairy tale. That's exactly what we need. Will we also get milk and cookies with the fairy tale?

Cryn Johannsen said...

Right, because fairy tales are ONLY for children. You're clever. Great job.

Cryn Johannsen said...

@One Who Survived -

I wasn't alive when Beethoven composed his masterpieces, but I can still appreciate it. Don't be an ageist!

One Who Survived said...

No problem, I'll stick to good old fashioned sexism!

Cryn Johannsen said...

@One Who Survived - you're awful! :)

One Who Survived said...

Chalk it up to my Yorkshire heritage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY4tD2Hbg_A

One Who Survived said...

By the way (if and after you post my prior comment with the clip of Harry Enfield playing the role of "Yorkshireman"), here's MY kind of Feminism!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv0yM2gUqZ4

Oh, but the strict convention among Western "intellectuals" (of whom I am one) is to parrot the shibboleth: "The cult of the Virgin Mary was designed to keep women in their place."

Hm? WHAT place? Mary's place? A place higher than any other creature who ever lived? (In Catholicism, Jesus is not a creature, but Mary is. The highest one, because of her humility, which is by the way why she's regarded as a defender of Working Class people and all of the weak and oppressed. And her husband St Joseph is the patron saint of workers.)

IF one believes in the miracle of Lourdes, then the story says that when St Mary appeared to the GIRL, St Bernadette, at Lourdes, she heard the sound of a growling monster - Satan - and then St Mary simply turned her head in that direction and the growling ceased.

THAT is FEMININE power! Except for the (assumed) fact that St Mary was a virgin...

...but then if being a virgin is inconsistent with "feminism" (as many contemporay "feminists" assume) then isn't THAT kind of "feminism" dependent upon MEN? (Or else upon lesbians, but total lesbianism would lead to extinction of the species, except in a hyper-techno-nightmare of artificial insemination for all posterity.)

Hmmm...;-)

Anyway, Cryn, although it seems that you and I agree to disagree on many things, I regard you as one of my best partial-disagreeors. I think you and I agree IN SPIRIT on most matters, and therefore I predict you will convert to Catholicism (because it happens to be true!) before your end at age 110 or so! HA! ;-) :-)

Cryn Johannsen said...

@One Who Survived - I already am Catholic. I converted a few years ago at a parish in Providence, RI.

Cryn Johannsen said...

In addition, you clearly enjoy being polemical. I can appreciate that. It's an art that most people nowadays SUCK at.

One Who Survived said...

HA! And, like me, you smoke tobacco too! So you'll enjoy this 17th century song, "Tobacco is like Love", which I first heard on my radio in London when I was a younger man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VpxeGb3qZA

Also, you seem to be "mentally ill" as defined by Americans today. Therefore I commend you to one of my favourite saints, Saint Dymphna (Irish, circa 600 AD) the patron saint of crazy people! http://saints.sqpn.com/saintd01.jpg

;-) :-) Good on ya, from the Earthly Paradise of Western Australia!