Featuring...
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We Protest Much Now and Then
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Quote(s) of the Month
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The Dinosaur Once More… or… Whose Idea Was This?
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“Equivalency Poetry”
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Clue Adds a Bathroom
November 2019
muse-letter \’myüz-‘le-tər noun
1: a personal message, inspired by a muse of one's own creation, addressed to a person or organization, in the course of which, the sender becomes absorbed in thought; especially turning something over in the mind meditatively and often inconclusively.
2: a letter from a poet, or one who envisions oneself as such, in which he or she “muses” on that which is perceived to be news, or newsworthy, usually in some ironic or absurd way.
“Equivalency Poetry”
Some poems I’ve written result in stanzas purposely sitting side by side, so as to suggest a balance or sense of equivalency in what each is trying to express. For want of a defining genre, I call it “equivalency poetry.”
We've seen many poems of course, whose stanzas are laid out adjacently. But I’ve taken it a step further. In some cases, either equalizing the number of syllables in each “opposing” line, while equalizing the number of lines in each “opposing” stanza as well. And in one particular instance, even recycling the exact words in the first two stanzas, and rearranging them in the third and fourth stanzas, while sticking to an underlining theme.
Three short examples follow, with added illustrations in accordance with the theme...the effects of time passage.
.
Vandals
Lazlo Toth took
a hammer to
the Pietà.
The stone impaired The flesh impaired
by Toth took time by time took Toth.
to refurbish. He doth perish.
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Roundtrip
Clue Adds a Bathroom
In a shameless promotion on the 70th anniversary of the classic game Clue (Cluedo elsewhere)— an inductee into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2017— its fans were asked to vote on the selection of a new room in the Mansion (#ClueHouzzRenovation).
They were given four choices. Guest Room, Drawing Room, an updated Hall, or Bathroom. The Loo, as it’s called in the U.K. where the game was first issued, was the winning room and will replace the Hall. (“Hey, knock, knock, knock, are you almost done in there? I need to use the bathroom… to murder you”). This new version will be out in December.
This seems a stretch. Do murders ever really take place in a bathroom? Suicides, yes. Though of course, some psychotic foul play has been known to occur there.
This is not the first time the original game has been tweaked. A new weapon, Poison, that first appeared in Clue Master Detective, was also added to the 50th Anniversary Edition. But the pièce de résistance is the luxurious three-dimensional edition featuring an “elegant wood paneled game box, nine fully furnished sunken rooms sealed beneath a non-removal tempered glass top.” It hangs on my wall, somewhere between a curio and a touch of whimsy. (I know. Get a clue).
The game has also seen innumerable themed iterations over the years, in partnerships with the likes of Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Golden Girls (who bought and actually played this edition?), Star Wars, The Big Bang Theory, to name but a few. In “Marketingspeak,” this is called “brand architecture,” or another form of “extending the brand.” In plainspeak…this is called trying desperately to generate interest (and revenue) among younger generations, who have grown up on their smart phones and don't want to play dumb board games.
Being old school, I prefer the original 1949 version. As a kid, the appeal of it lie in what it wasn’t: a game strictly of chance, following a predetermined path. Unlike Sorry! I'm sorry to say. Rather it's one of logic and deduction, which is best encapsulated by a favorite quote I’ve used here a couple of times before. One I certainly wasn’t aware of it at age 7, when I first assumed the alter ego of Colonial Mustard; the coolest character name ever.
As mystery movies go, Clue was made into a most ambitious one in 1985. It had three endings A, B and C, that played at different venues. It has been described by the critics as a screwball whodunnit, a black comedy mystery, and in a stretch, a “spoof of McCarthy-era paranoia and 1950’s wholesomeness.” But regardless of what you call it, it bombed at the box office. “One ending is more than enough,” said Roger Ebert. Another disparaging assessment said that since movie goers didn’t know which version to go see, they chose “None” and stayed home.
Later on, in all its quaintness--- the above characters roaming around in a quintessential English mansion (though where was the butler?) in a world that no longer exists, if it ever did--- it was all suggestive of my favorite Agatha Christie whodunnits. She herself once the focal point of a mysterious 11-day disappearance, before she was found. It could have made for its own fun board game predating Clue by 23 years. Or a movie based on actual facts (as opposed to the one made last year as an “alternative history drama” --- Agatha and the Truth of Murder).
The cast included Madeline Kahn, Martin Mull, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Brennan, Leslie Ann Warren, and all played it rather broadly and indulgently. Which is exactly how it seems it should be played. And over thirty years after its release it has become a cult classic.
As I now find myself in a labyrinth of different rooms, I’ll depart by way of entry. (“Norman? Are you in there?”)
Finito
We Protest Much Now and Then
If it seems that “We the People,” in accordance with the right to peacefully assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances— as guaranteed by the First Amendment— have been doing a lot of that in the last few years, that’s because we have.
If you look at the major protests in American history in terms of size, the top five have happened in just the last three years. The 2017 Women’s March with a whopping crowd estimate between 3.3 and 4.6 MM… the 2018 Women’s March at 1.5 MM…March of Our Lives (2018)1.2-2.0 MM…the National Strike etc (2019) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1.1 MM…March for Science (2017)1.0 MM. Beyond this top tier, there are another ten in our history that are of significant size (200 M+). Though it should be noted that the U.S. population is over 60% larger now than it was 50 years ago, at the time of a particular anti-war protest I'm about to get into in some detail, in a moment.
“Official” crowd sizes are based on an amalgam of police data, organizer estimates, Citizen Science (believe it or not, a discipline that includes a Crowd Counting Consortium) and journalists. And as we are ever more aware, crowd size matters and can even be a source of contention in some cases. Even three years after the crowd has dispersed. (Jab an elbow into the nearest ribs). But now, as the 50th anniversary draws near on the 15th of this month for the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, there is no disputing the approximation of the body count on that day.
At the time, it was the largest protest gathering in one place in the history of the United States. It is now relegated to 13th place in the golden oldies of America’s all-time protest play list. Though it still remains the largest anti-war protest in our country ever. Especially noteworthy, it was a “sequel protest” to another “Moratorium” exactly one month prior. Sequels rarely outperform the original. (Excepting perhaps, Godfather II).
500,000 strong, marched on Washington that day. For the most part peacefully. I was among them and still have the pin-on button commemorating the experience.
The New York Times described the “Moratorium crowd” that day as “… a predominantly youthful and mass gathering of the moderate (including me and my friend who would go on to become the chairman and CEO at Burger King for 17 years), and radical Left …
I suppose any large organized protest worth its salt (subtle Gandhi march reference), has some sort of slogan or icon pressed on, or ironed on, or silkscreened on, a button, T-Shirt, poster or cap, around which to rally. A form of "cause promotion" you might say.
as if on loan from a Clifford Odets play) ... Communists, pacifists and a sprinkling of the violent New Left" (none of whom I knew. I wonder if Bernie was there?).
old-style liberals (ala my then father-in-law, who was with us that day
Another news outlet unequivocally stated that “…for the first time (it) brought out America’s middle class and middle-aged voters, in large numbers....Hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of GIs actively took part in Moratorium actions, both in October 1969 as well as in further Moratorium protests later in the year.” And it concluded with... “But perhaps the most significant GI antiwar expression was a November 9, 1969 full-page antiwar ad, published in the New York Times, and signed by an astounding 1,366 active duty GIs from across eighty bases and ships, including nearly two hundred stationed in Vietnam.” As I've said before on these pages, and as recently as in a retrospective just last month, if you are of a certain age, all roads wind up back in Nam. Even if you were never there. And for certain, forever, if you were.
Meanwhile back at the Washington Mall, high-profile antiwar politicians, Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern and Charles Goodell, the only Republican to take part, were giving speeches. Not one word of which I can recall. Interspersed with the usual protest troubadours, Arlo Guthrie , Peter , Paul and Mary and Pete Seeger. Mr. Pete led the crowd in singing John Lennon’s new song, “Give Peace a Chance.” Which would become an anthem.
To be honest, about all I can remember of that day without prompting, is that it was freaking freezing! Were Novembers colder back then? This along with the feeling of being stuffed into a bucket of ice-cubed claustrophobia. Discomforts that were hardly on a par with what our troops were subjected to in that war, I realize, but you know. There might be no “I” in team, but there is “YOU” in youth.
Ultimately… the $64 question: Are protests effective in bringing about their desired change? Yes. If they continue to evolve thereafter, into a movement. One that leads to meaningful legislation, and/or cultural and social significance. Though that could take some time. It took a little over three years following that cold day protesting a hot war, for the draft to be abolished. Over two years after that for the Vietnam War to finally end. So, the jury (and fashion designers), are still out on the "pussy hat."
Unlike crowd size measurement, it becomes a lot more difficult to pin down a definitive list labeled “Most Effective.” Especially in any rank order. It is to a large degree a subjective exercise which no doubt, is swayed by the politics of the list-making source. But here are some protests and movements that appear on a number of lists, that I've culled from the net:
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The Boston Tea Party: 1773 (“The Original American Protest”)
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Civil Rights: August 28, 1963 (March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom…“I Have a Dream” speech)
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Women’s Suffrage: 1848 and 1913 (following the Seneca Falls Convention and the Woman’s Suffrage Parade)
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Antiwar: November 15, 1969 (Moratorium to End the War march on Washington featured)
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Gay Rights: June 28, 1969 and 1993 (police raid on New York City's Stonewall Inn featured, and the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation)
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Labor Movement: 1911 (following the Triangle Shirtwaist fire)
And with the 2020 election year around the corner, there could be some new variations of dissent and disgruntlement raining down on the umbrella of the First Amendment. Nos populus protest multo. It’s the American way.
Quote(s) of the Month
“Children are unconstrainedly sincere and not ashamed of the truth, while we, from fear of seeming backward, are ready to betray what’s most dear, to praise the repulsive, and to say yes to the incomprehensible.”
Boris Pasternak
Doctor Zhivago
“But he isn’t wearing anything at all.”
Hans Christian Anderson
The Emperor’s New Clothes
The Dinosaur Once More… or… Whose Idea Was This?
To expand on that classic line about a camel being a horse made by committee, a dinosaur is a lizard made by that same committee, after they were done screwing up the horse. Luckily, they didn't name it. English scientist Richard Owen first coined it in 1842. Dinosaur is derived from the Greek, combining deinos— "terrible, powerful, wondrous" + "sauros " = lizard.
I have always found their pre-historic existence to be an intriguing proposition. Especially as Paleontologists continue to dig up evidence of new species, as was the case just last month with the latest discovery. Which would make it around the 900th variation that has thus far been unearthed. Or at least, that is the general consensus among the folks who go to sleep each night counting dinosaurs, in lieu of ewe. But without further ado, let’s hear it for this latest badass…
“A predatory dinosaur with 'shark-like' teeth discovered in Thailand,” it roamed the earth we are told, during the early Cretaceous
period, 145 million years ago (give or
take forty-five million). Their largest members rivaled the T-Rex in size.”
Siamraptor suwati
Which is a little scary and suggestive of a horror movie lab experiment gone terribly awry. “Frankensteinasauros?!” And of course, this scenario was once played out by way of the fictional Godzilla. Aka, a destructive dinosaur-like sea monster, awakened and empowered, not in a lab, but by fallout from nuclear radiation. (An allegorical cautionary tale as current as today. By the way).
I find the dinosaur particularly fascinating in the context of the interesting questions it poses on the nature and the source of all creation. Would an omnipotent being of an uber-intelligence, far beyond human comprehension, create such an ungainly beast? And then, in effect, following it up with a penultimate “Oops!” …hitting "Delete" (or "Asteroid" on God's iPad or a killer app?)… deep-sixing the whole idea? And blaming it on that committee?
Yet even for the Evolutionist who adheres to the process of “natural selection”— and especially the Darwinian tenet of “survival of the fittest”— and with all of this emanating from random cosmic events, the arrival and departure of the dinosaur can still be puzzling to say the least.
In what I’m inclined to call the Grand Randomness of Enter and Delete, the Dinosaurs really came and went rather quickly. At least when you consider that the earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago (6 days in biblical time), and that first signs of life didn’t show up here until a billion years later. (Scientists are divided on whether it was on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon).
They stopped by our corner in the universe about 243 million years ago, for a 165-million-year cup of coffee. If you do the math (and don’t try this at home), its presence works out to just about 3.5% of Earth’s time span. Though having been around now for only 200,000 years, a blink in a celestial eye, we homo sapiens should be so lucky to live to be 165 million (and not look a light year over 164).
So, what happened?
According to Here’s What Happened the Day the Dinosaurs Died, a piece appearing in National Geographic— a magazine that first that went "where no man has gone before," in showing pictures in 1896 of African women going about their day bare-breasted— so it must be credible. Yet don't ask how the following was arrived at, ye of so little faith.
“Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid the size of a mountain hurtled toward Earth at about 40,000 miles an hour, generating an ‘explosive yield’ estimated at over 100 trillion tons of TNT, upon impact” (another source claims the force of 10 billion atomic bombs}, impacting at what is now the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.
“The event set off a chain of global catastrophes that wiped out 80 percent of life on Earth (that’s all?) including most of the dinosaurs.”
“While most accounts focus on the spectacular violence of those first few minutes to days after the impact, it was the long-term environmental effects that ultimately wiped out most dinosaurs and much of the rest of life on Earth” (i.e. climate change on steroids).
Another recent source also speaks to that fallout, as dust and aerosols ejected into the stratosphere blocking the sun. But also notes that dinosaur diversity had been declining for a million years or so even prior to that asteroid coming off the rails. In another one or two million years, they’d probably all be gone anyway. So what's the big deal? Well, a million years here, a million years there, and pretty soon we're talking about real time, to paraphrase the famous Everett Dirksen line about large sums of money.
And so, the digging goes on in search of more bones. Though I’m not sure what more they can reveal. Once you’ve seen 900 dinosaur variations, you’ve seen them all. But maybe it’s like collecting baseball cards. You’re not satisfied until you have a complete set (“I’ll trade you an Allosaurus for a Brontosaurus”).
Now I have one more thing to worry about. As it’s been 66 million years since the last “gigundo” asteroid hit the earth, aren’t we about due for another one? Or is it just a lingering paranoia that comes from having once lived in Southern California for over 30 years, with earthquakes in the making beneath our feet? In any case, I’ll make sure to have extra batteries and bottles of water on hand.
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