There Will Be Satire

Propaganda may or may not work, but one thing's certain: even in wartime, there will be satire. The admonition Loose Lips (May) Sink Ships is readymade for "repurposing." The origin of this? The US Office of War Information aka Ministry of Propaganda, Second World War. In the 1940s and 1950s, at least one variation turned to kissing: "An Upper Invitation to a Lower Invasion." I've recently heard the phrasing morphed into something about "Moose Lips" and "don't gimme no lip on a sinkin' ship." Political wags have trotted out "rearranging decks chairs on the Titanic" (or the Hindenburg) for as long as I can remember. What goes around comes around, on seaships and airships and radar blips. It's strange: Loose is derogatory except when one's discussing coins or warming up for something, but so is uptight and its variations. Playing fast and loose with the truth.  Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Either way, wild cards and jokers will trump, and propaganda will be contested by a coalition of the chillin.'

Today's Rune: Initiation.     

Repurposing the Icon

I've heard or read the term "repurposing" more in the past month than in a lifetime. Here's an icon repurposed for selling beer: from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) to Bombshell Blonde Ale produced by Southern Star in Conroe, Texas. "HANDCRAFTED TASTE IN A CAN."  It's very tasty, especially on a hot night in Texas. Below is the corresponding scene from Dr. Strangelove, featuring Slim Pickens as Major King Kong . . .

Today's Rune: Partnership.

Indianola

One of the side benefits of catching up on Juneteenth is this: I've learned a little more about my direct paternal ancestor Sam France, because he was involved in the occupation of Texas in 1865. His unit, the 31st Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, was sent by steam ship down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, where they camped for a while, then by ship out in the Gulf to disembark at Indianola, Texas. Sam France had been wounded at Shiloh and Stones River (Murfreesboro) and promoted to corporal; by the time he reached Texas he was about twenty-five years old. The 31st Indiana was part of Major General David S. Stanley's IV Corps, which was composed mostly of "Western" men (what we would now call Midwestern), with units from Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, etc.

Also learned something about Indianola, a strategic port location in 1865. For a while, it competed directly against other strategic Texas entry points like Galveston and Corpus Christi. But then something bad happened: in 1875, a hurricane destroyed much of the town and killed scores and scores of people (akin to the recent Joplin Tornado); the coup de grâce, though, came in 1886, when what has been retroactively classified as a Category Five hurricane knocked over the town once again. Indianola is now little more than a ghost town in a watery grave. It served its national purpose well in 1865-1866, though.  

Today's Rune: Partnership.

Texas, 1865

Real history, considered with more than a glancing thought, tends to be intricate, complicated and rich; at this level of scrutiny there's really something in it for everyone. Take Texas in the second half of 1865. American Civil War coming to a formal close. Confederacy collapses. US troops (white and black, foot soldiers and cavalry) arrive. Juneteenth, slavery is terminated. Ongoing war in Mexico between imperial and republican forces. Comanches and other tribal groups and bands, and large buffalo herds. Frontier women, farmers, taverns, drinking and gambling. What a mix!

On the map above, upper left is the main setting for Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo / The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966/1967).

Just to give an idea of how complicated the scene in Texas was in 1865, here's a snippet from Thomas North's Five Years in Texas: or, What You Did Not Hear During the War from January 1861 to January 1866 (p. 193):

"The German population of Texas were generally understood to have Union sympathies, and were therefore cordially hated by original Texans."* 

*("Original Texans" meaning mostly Anglo people who'd immigrated to Texas maybe twenty years before the Germans, who in turn began coming to Texas starting in the 1830s and 1840s. The term "Original Texans" linguistically neatly erases or ignores prior and current Hispanic and Native American inhabitants.)

"We were riding one day into the country with a genuine [i.e. Anglo] Texan, and coming to a heavy German settlement, he called our attention to their fine farms and substantial improvements, and said, 'See the Germans squatted everywhere on the best lands in our State. I'll tell you what I would do if in my power. I would compel them to leave the rich land and go to the sand hills and sand prairies. I don't think they have any business on these lands, and right under the noses of the better class of citizens.'" (North, 1871, page 193).

The more things change . . . Just substitute "Germans" with some other immigrant group and you hear the same complaints in 2011.

Even 1865 slang still holds water: "That the Indians fought in ambush, and made many of the whites bite the dust." (North, 1871, page 193).

Today's Rune: Opening.    

Juneteenth

Juneteenth, Emancipation Day in Texas: June 19th, 1865. President Lincoln was dead by two months, the American Civil War transitioning into a rocky post-war "Reconstruction" period. Formal slavery was over, replaced in part by "wage slavery." The free black population in places like Texas needed immediately to establish the basics like food, shelter and clothing, but also excercise mobility, travel, and as much self-autonomy as possible.

Now, coming up on the 150th anniversary of the original Juneteenth (in 2015), June 19th is a state holiday or day of observance in many parts of the USA, including Texas.  In Fort Worth, Buttons ("Food and Music for the Soul") is celebrating all week with specials, and downtown there will be music and a Juneteenth parade at the weekend.

Today's Rune: Initiation.   

The History of Time: A Very Short Introduction

After proceeding at a rapid clip through Leofranc Holford-Stevens' The History of Time: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2005; audio, 2011), it's hard not to muse a little about the nature of time. What is time all about?

Time is gravity.
Time is ever-present.
Time is odd.

Dreamtime and awake time loop around each other, go through each other.

Time is space.
Time is on my side.
Time waits for no one.
We could have a real cool time tonight.
Love you long time.
Hot time on the town.
Time is place.
Time is a Zone.
Time is an Interzone.

Time is a Jumble:
Astronomy. Fate.
Solar, Lunar.
Astrology.
Julian, Gregorian.
Old Style, New Style.
1751/1752.

Time is Light.
Time is an Envelope.
Time is an Antelope.
Time is a Cantaloupe.
Time is a Half-Life.
Time is an Afterlife.

Time is a Note I can't Read Even in my Own Handwriting; Time revolves around Easter according to some Christians.

Time is a Season.
Time is a Festival.
Time is a Month.
Time is a Doing and an Undoing.
Time is a Life.
Time is an Epoch.
Time is a Millennium.
Time is a Century.
Time is a Decade.
Time is a Year.
Time is a Month.
Time is a Week.
Time is a Day.

Time is an Hour that's getting Late. Two Riders was
Approaching . . . and the wind began to howl . . .

Time is a Minute.
Time is a Split Second.
Time to go Now . . .

Today's Rune: Movement.

Tropic of Cancer: The Movie

Joseph Strick put on some notable literary movies in the 1960s and 1970s; Tropic of Cancer, based on Henry Miller's controversial novel of the same name, is one of them. It took me many years to track down a copy of this film adaptation starring Rip Torn and James T. Callahan and, for part of the film, Ellen Burstyn (including a dash of full frontal nudity -- surprising only because it's Ellen Burstyn, in living color).

Rated X on its initial release in 1970 -- two years before Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris -- today what's still a little shocking about Tropic of Cancer is the frank, mostly sexist sexual chatter and the outrageous Miller/Torn narration. Indeed, language trumps nudity in a big way. With a little critical distance, it's pretty funny to see how clueless the guys in the film are about women. Less funny is the prevalence of various STDs and socio-economic disparities shown and discussed. One other matter: in the movie, the novel's setting is moved from the 1930s to the late 1960s, though it remains geographically centered in Paris.

Can I recommend this? To those who are crazily into literary and cultural history and don't mind sharp language, yes; for general entertainment, probably not. Most folks would much more enjoy Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (2011).

Today's Rune: Partnership.