Natchitoches to New Orleans, 1982

[Continuing my sister Linda's notes from Natchitoches, Louisiana, August 1982]:

We pull out of Natchitoches at 12:20 on a hot day. . . The Southwest is nothing in temperature/humidity comparison.

Marksville [Indian] Mounds off 452/Rte. 1 just past Marksville Middle School. Hopewell Period, circa 300-600 A.D.

Along the Old River. Fort DeRussy (no sign). Gas is cheap in this area. Stop for ice cream cones (.90).

At New Ground on way to cross levee. St. Francisville Ferry across MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Cottage Plantation.


Port Hudson, last Confederate fort to fall on Mississippi [right after Vicksburg]. Sign: "Locked In after 5:00." We left at 4:59. Nice Louisiana girl was just as confused as us -- no visitor center, no other signs. 650 acres of The Twilight Zone. Area was privately owned, maybe it's just being developed. Cooler and rainy. Saw two forts (one aptly named Fort Desperate).

Heading between Baton Rouge and New Orleans on Hwy. 10. Heavy rainstorm, big booming thunder. Getting into swampy [indecipherable] cedar tree area -- swampy like our vision of the bayou country (not like bayous further northwest -- rivers).

On a long, long causeway. It all reminds me of St. Stephen and Kingstree, South Carolina.

Inside city limits, looking for a place to stay. Fountain Bay Club Hotel for $28.00 on Toulouse.

[To be continued . . .]

Today's Rune: Partnership.

Der Himmel über Berlin / Wings of Desire

Wim Wenders' 1987 film Wings of Desire / Der Himmel über Berlin ("The Sky Over Berlin"), features beautiful cinematography, a primal story line and a memorable soundtrack. As in silent films, the viewer is given plenty of room to absorb profiles of faces, body language, and details of setting.

We follow two recording angels (Bruno Ganz, Damiel; Otto Sander, Cassiel) as they roam above and in the streets of Berlin, observing people's thoughts. All shots from the angels' perspective are in black and white; mortals' points of view come alive with color: a very effective and humbling technique. The angels mostly take notes, but they are often moved to provide moments of spiritual solace to people in despair, simply by hovering invisibly near.

There are apparently a lot of angels around, but Wings of Desire focuses only on Damiel and Cassiel and another angel who took mortal form in the 1960s. There is a subplot involving Peter Falk as himself (more or less), there are time bending glimpses into Berlin on fire and in ruins in 1945 at the end of the Second World War, there are stunning shots of the Berlin Wall, and scenes with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. There's also a trapeze artist, Marion, played evocatively by Solveig Dommartin.

Eventually, Damiel decides to "go mortal" to experience humanity and to hook up with Marion.


Pictured here: Otto Sander and Nick Cave. The soundtrack features Bad Seeds songs, including "The Carny," and a lot of other atmospheric music.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have a new album out in 2008: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! Wenders has a new movie coming out soon: The Palermo Shoot. Bruno Ganz is near perfect playing Adolf Hitler in Downfall (2004). Finally, I hadn't seen Wings of Desire in nearly fifteen years until yesterday, so was sad to discover that Solveig Dommartin died last year at age 45 -- of a heart attack. Hopefully she's among the angels now.

Today's Rune: Strength.

Herz aus Glas / Heart of Glass

Hadn't seen Werner Herzog's Herz aus Glas / Heart of Glass / Coeur de verre (1976) in nearly fifteen years -- until yesterday. Wow. I've always found Herzog's work compelling, but at this juncture, it's not overstating my enthusiasm to claim that he is probably the greatest visionary filmmaker -- and one of the greatest Western visionary artists -- of all time.

For the visuals alone, it's worth checking out any of Herzog's movies. On the other hand, none of his fictional or documentary films are good for a casual date except perhaps with someone who enjoyed Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice (1971). Believe me, I know. A "woman friend," while watching Herzog's Stroszek (1977), quipped -- "After seeing that, no wonder Ian Curtis [of Joy Division] hanged himself." Indeed, the often slow pace might disconcert and certainly will disorient some American viewers, or at the very least make them wish they'd downed some whiskey and Quaaludes. Put another way, if you think time is flitting by way too quickly, put on some Herzog and you'll be completely mesmerized!


For Heart of Glass, Herzog hypnotized much of the cast. It's a stunning, prophetic film and I'll probably write more about its narrative line at some point. Herzog is the William Blake of film making, I suppose, although Grimm's Fairy Tales would not be far off his path, either.

Most readers will be at least somewhat familiar with the 1979 Blondie gold and platinum hit "Heart of Glass" (Parallel Lines, 1978). There's probably a connection with Heart of Glass, given that an earlier 1975 incarnation was called "Once I Had a Love." In between versions came Herzog's movie. For Debbie Harry and Blondie fans, here's an early video dub version of "Heart of Glass." I still say that Debbie Harry is the hottest singer ever, but would love to know if I've missed out on any other possibilities . . . . .



Today's Rune: Wholeness.

Seventy-eight Revolutions per Minute

When I was in graduate school at Temple University in Philadelphia, writer Václav Havel, first president of the Czech Republic, upon receiving the Liberty Medal, gave an acceptance speech at Independence Hall, where the original American Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. It was a warm day and I had to drag myself over from West Philadelphia in time to hear him speak. He was eloquent and "heavy." Here's a snippet from "The Need for Transcendence in the Postmodern World," which he delivered in English on July 4, 1994:

It logically follows that, in today's multicultural world, the truly reliable path to coexistence, to peaceful coexistence and creative cooperation, must start from what is at the root of all cultures and what lies infinitely deeper in human hearts and minds than political opinion, convictions, antipathies, or sympathies -- it must be rooted in self-transcendence:

Transcendence as a hand reached out to those close to us, to foreigners, to the human community, to all living creatures, to nature, to the universe.

Transcendence as a deeply and joyously experienced need to be in harmony even with what we ourselves are not, what we do not understand, what seems distant from us in time and space, but with which we are nevertheless mysteriously linked because, together with us, all this constitutes a single world.

Transcendence as the only real alternative to extinction. . .


This speech was given less than five years after Havel became President in the wake of the Velvet Revoluton of 1989. Havel, being an artist as well as politican, was and is a huge fan of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa, and others. From Velvet Underground to Velvet Revolution to Philadelphia Freedom -- how wild and cool is that?

This year's winner: Mikhail Gorbachev.

Today's Rune: Harvest. Happy American Independence Day!

Warriors at Rest

Here are a few snippets from a European history journal (a requirement for an on the road 1981 summer course via UNC-Chapel Hill, led by Jim Leutze). This, my first trip to Europe, left a permanent impression in many ways:

June 1, 1981, Monday

In the morning we visited the U.S. Luxembourg Cemetery and saw Patton’s grave. It was an honorable touch to make his grave as unadorned as the common soldier’s, a simple white cross inscribed with a name, place, and date. The old warrior played his part even in the end.




An important visit to the German Sandweiler Cemetery came next. I thought this was the most tranquil of the cemeteries, almost like a Zen garden. The dark gray German crosses were widely spaced, with several soldiers to each cross. Another subtle touch was to have the soldiers' birth and death dates, which many of the French and American graves left off.

I could have spent much more time there on my own. Looking in the directory at the last minute, I found a Shaffer, which is the maternal side of my family. Christian Shaffer was nineteen when he died. It was encouraging to see how well tended this cemetery was, and how many fresh flowers were placed in memory of these dead soldiers. . . . .


June 2, 1981, Tuesday

It was an adventure finding Erwin Rommel’s grave. After the normal navigational difficulties led us into a wild goose chase, we asked a local where Rommel’s grave was. “Rommel’s dead,” he responded helpfully. As we rounded a corner, a group of little kids shot us the bird as if to mock our efforts. Finally, with some local assistance, we found the old Marshal in a quaint little cemetery. We honored him for s short while, the iron cross grave stone receiving us respectfully. I felt very much the same as at Patton’s grave, though Erwin was resting with his fellow townsfolk rather than his troops. The grave site was not grossly memorialized, but subtly appropriate. . . .


And so it goes . . . . .

Today's Rune: Defense.

Dark and Bloody Ground

[Summer 1982. We crossed back into Texas and headed for Dallas-Fort Worth. Checked out the Texas School Book Depository and Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Eventually headed east again, whereupon Linda's notes resume:]

This part of Texas is nice, rolling grasslands with horses and cattle. Rest areas are oil derricks! Soil is rich black. Erik wants more coffee. Still pretty cool and cloudy as hell (predicted 100 degrees).

"Hitler was mad, too." Texas Eddie.

Louisiana! Leaving Mansfield and its 100 degree heat (the sun came out). The battlefield was well kept with a nice museum. Preservation of artifacts here must be wonderful (leather, metal, bone). Also, rose-colored marble fireplace was White House. . .

Natchitoches for overnight. Deadbeat zombies but still kicking. . .

[Mansfield/Sabine Cross-Roads was impressive and a little less well known at the time. The 1864 American Civil War battle was a Confederate victory, part of the Union Red River Campaign fiasco. I wrote a two-part article about the campaign that, once I find a copy, will make its way to the internet via either blog or web page. Natchitoches was also cool, but there are gaps in the original chronicle.]

Today's Rune: Flow.

The New World?

Here's our chance to try something different, something that brings back some of the old and mixes it with new stuff.

The above is an American yurt in Colorado. My questions are: does the typical yurt have underground storage? Can we add solar and wind power to that? Is there running water?

In Detroit today, I noticed a lot of single cell solar panels. My brother-in-law Michael and sister Vickie are aiming to mount enough solar panels to run their house in Pennsylvania off the grid, or as much off as possible given local conditions. Seems cool. Must learn more. We also discussed yurts. Go figure. Maybe all that enthusiasm from the 60s and 70s is coming back after all. . . . .

Ciao for now!

Today's rune: Defense.