All the World's a Stage

War is inscribed into our daily lives; since the founding of the USA, this has always been so.

In an earlier post, I looked at two versions of Edward H. Tarrant, commander of the Fourth Brigade of the Republic of Texas back in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Whether many now in 2011 directly know it or not, he led efforts to push Caddos, Cherokees and Tonkawas out of their villages (by burning them) within five years of "the Alamo;" into which lands "Anglo" settlers soon moved. Tarrant's name is inscribed into a county (Tarrant County) and thereby into that country's many social institutions, including its community college district. Fort Worth, now a city larger than Detroit and the primary demographic entity of Tarrant County, began as a military outpost named after Major General William Jenkins Worth, a veteran of the Second Seminole War and the Mexican-American War who died of cholera in 1849 just before Fort Worth was established. The year before he died, Worth had been tapped to lead a filibustering expedition to seize Cuba from Spain.

Turning to Michigan, consider Wayne and Macomb counties. Macomb is named after (British) Detroit-born Major General Alexander Macomb, Commanding General of the United States Army from 1828 until his death in 1841. Macomb was a veteran of the War of 1812 and Second Seminole War. Macomb Community College serves as one of his living institutional descendents -- every time one thinks, writes or sees the name, General Macomb is invoked.

As for Wayne County, it's named for Major General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, a fierce combat fighter and frontier treaty negotiator, veteran of the American Revolution and final (victorious) US Army commander during the Northwest Indian War / Little Turtle's War, culminating in the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794) and the Treaty of Greenville with Chippewa, Shawnee, Wyandotte, Delaware Lenape, Miami, Kaskaskia and other tribes and bands, ceding Ohio, Chicago and Detroit to the United States. Wayne died of complications from the gout in 1796 at the age of fifty-one.

The cultural inscription of Mad Anthony Wayne does not stop with Detroit or Wayne County or even Wayne State University: his name has spread from Pennsylvania to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and far beyond. Even more, he lives on through John Wayne, often the protoaganist in American "cowboy and Indian" and war movies. John Wayne -- born Marion Morrison -- was first given/adopted in Hollywood the name Anthony Wayne after Mad Anthony in 1930, but the Fox Studios head at the time thought this "sounded too Italian!"  (It would be decades before the rise of Tony Soprano, who definitely is Italian.)   John Wayne did not fight in the Second World War, but he often played a fierce WWII soldier or Marine on the big screen. As for "Cowboys and Indians," Wayne asserted in a Playboy interview in 1971, that back in the 1800s, "There were great numbers of people who needed new land [but] the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for
themselves . . ."  Hmm, "people" vs. "Indians." 

Finally, how many places are named for women?  I think of 12th Street in Detroit, epicenter at Clairmount of the 1967 race riots, being renamed Rosa Parks Boulevard in the 1970s.  Interesting choice and place for the switch. I can guarantee, dear reader, you have places and institutions near you named for male war leaders, but how about places named for women in any capacity?

Today's Rune: Gateway.    

A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich

In reading Walker Percy, Paul Virilio and Catherine Belsey this past week, at one point I remembered being in Charles Long's Religion in America class in Chapel Hill and later sitting in on a seminar he conducted over in Durham, North Carolina. He was fabulous. Long, who'd studied with Mircea Eliade, did not discuss Mormons and Baptists and such, but instead the ground from which these Christian sects sprang.

One of Long's deeper cultural ideas ties in with my current reading: the underlying power of names.

What does the dominant culture consider important? In the USA, one of the most important things or aspects of society and culture is war. War and the instruments of war -- from war leaders to technology to "heroes" -- suffuse our every day living like a continuous spectral presence. Right down to popular food.

Consider the submarine sandwich. It is named after the submarine (or U-Boot / Unterseeboot / U-boat ). Why? No one really seems to know precisely and definitively, except it generally has the shape of a submarine, and also because, apparently, the sandwich was developed to feed workers at Naval docks during the time of the first major wave of submersible ship production (about a hundred years ago).

Along the same lines, this or very similar sandwiches are called blimp and zep. Both of the variant airship types for which they are named were widely used during the First World War and beyond -- even now in today's mass Roman arena style sporting events.

Yet another name for these sandwiches is, of course, the torpedo.

When one eats a submarine, blimp, zep or torpedo, it is like taking the Eucharist for Holy War. One is taking communion with one of America's most privileged activities and perhaps with Ares and Mars, gods of War.

On the other hand, these sandwich names are silly and perhaps subvert the dominant delight in and acquiescence to war.

Lest anyone think I'm joking, consider the widespread American reaction when the French government refused to join the "coalition of the willing" in the Iraq War of 2003-present: the renaming of "French Fries" to "Freedom Fries." This serious silliness is certainly not just a recent phenomenon. During the First World War, sauerkraut was re-baptised in the USA as "Liberty Cabbage;" hamburger was morphed into "Salisbury Steak."

Competing with the war names of sandwiches, however, are other names that suggest socio-economic class and ethnic conciousness: the Po' Boy / Poor Boy and the hoagie. Even the hot hoagie, or grinder, has an ethnic-class tinge, sharing its name with slang for working class (dock) laborer. "Meat grinder" takes us back to war again, but may suggest opposition to or a recoiling from its horrors: "the meat grinder" was a nickname for trench warfare during the First World War, a modern variant on "cannon fodder."

This all makes me wonder: how far can any of us go through a day without in some way invoking or evoking the "everlasting" presence of war, socio-economic class or ethnicity?

Today's Rune: Initiation.

Double Trouble: Natacha Atlas + Buzzcocks

Natacha Atlas, "Kidda" (1997).



Buzzcocks, "I Believe" (1979) -- Kierkegaard vs. Kierkegaard.

Friday's most definitely in the pipeline . . .

Tall Tales and the History of Reality or: Never Two Without Three

I love to make discoveries about place names, to get at origins and stories about them. Take Tarrant County, "home" of Fort Worth and Arlington, Texas, USA as of 2011 in the "Common Era." I don't write this facetiously but more as a reminder that what we now call part of Texas has at one time or another been under the sway or claim of various prehistoric groups, France, the Comancheria, various tribes, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America and the United States of America; in other words, what seems eternal may not and probably will not remain so in the long run. In fact, the present Governor (Rick Perry) has "threatened" to secede from the Union -- for the second time!

I checked two sources about Tarrant County's namesake and it turns out they are at considerable odds about even basic "facts." First, take Michael A. Beatty's County Name Origins of the United States (2001): Edward H. Tarrant (1796-1858) - a native of North Carolina, Tarrant moved with his family to Tennssee at an early age and served in the army under General Andrew Jackson in actions against the Indians and in the War of 1812. In 1835 he immigrated to Texas, became involved in the Texas Revolution and served in the congress of the Republic of Texas. Tarrant served with the Texas Rangers guarding Texas' northwestern frontier and was a brigadier-general on May 22, 1841, when forces under his command attacked Indians on Village Creek, six miles east of today's Fort Worth. The attack was successful and helped open the present Tarrant County County area of Texas to White settlers . . . This county was created on December 20, 1849" (p. 539).

Compare the first with the second version, put forth by the Handbook of Texas Online:

TARRANT, EDWARD H. (1799–1858). Edward H. (possibly for Hampton) Tarrant was born in South Carolina in 1799. It appears that during the War of 1812 he was living in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. By the early 1820s he was in Henry County, Tennessee, where he was elected a colonel of militia in the new frontier environment. In 1825 he helped organize the first Masonic lodge in Paris, Tennessee, and by 1827 he had become sheriff of Henry County. He was a resident of Henderson County, Tennessee, from 1829 to the early 1830s, when he moved to Texas, possibly by way of Mississippi. Tarrant apparently established his household of relatives, hired men, and slaves in Red River County, Texas, by November 23, 1835; on February 2, 1838, he received a league and labor of land from the Republic of Texas as part of a uniform grant made to all heads of families resident in Texas on March 2, 1836. There is no record of his participation in the Texas Revolution. . . Tarrant practiced law, engaged in farming, and took a leading role in the militia's activity against the Indians while he was chief justice; when he resigned from the post on May 30, 1839, he was one of the most prosperous men in Red River County. He was elected by popular vote on November 18, 1839, as commander, carrying the rank of brigadier general, of an organization of Northeast Texas defenders known as the Fourth Brigade. His Indian-fighting career culminated in the battle of Village Creek in May 1841. In 1847 Tarrant ran for lieutenant governor, but he was defeated by John Alexander Greer . . . [TARRANT, EDWARD H.," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fta11), accessed April 05, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association].

How about the Battle of Village Creek in 1841?  Here is the Handbook of Texas online version, considerably more detailed and very different from the first version: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/btv01
Certainly this sentence is interesting: "The Texans were routed. Tarrant, learning from the prisoners that the villages were home to over 1,000 warriors, decided to withdraw."

Moral: two sources are usually not enough to figure out "the history of reality," not by a long shot. This is where archaeology comes in, among other approaches. At this point, I don't even know if Tarrant was orginally from North Carolina or South Carolina or born in 1796 or 1799 . . . and so on.  

Today's Rune: Initiation. 

Walker Percy: A Documentary Film by Win Riley

If you're interested in Walker Percy, writers, writing, novels, essays, New Orleans, philosophical exploration, religion, arriving at a Catholic worldview, Existentialism, families with a history of suicide, life on Earth, humanity, "the possibility of the search," Shelby Foote, or any of the above, you would very probably like Walker Percy: A Documentary Film by Win Riley (2011). I certainly did.

I hope to write in more detail about this thoughtful production, but in the meantime, here's a link to the official website:

http://www.walkerpercymovie.com/about.html

Individual people can order it directly via here (which I did recently) for $20.00 (or $250 for institutional purchases):

http://www.walkerpercymovie.com/buythedvd.html

Today's Rune: Fertility.

Global This in Russian and German

Now let's turn to two more global-reaching cultural perspective generators, one Russian and one German, both broadcasting in English and other languages. Above: yes, that's David Bowie on the cover of Esquire Russia. Want to check it out? Try here: http://esquire.ru/

First, let's take RT, begun in 2005 as Russia Today. RT being to Russia Today what BP is to British Petroleum (and that orginated a century ago as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company). That is, it has joined Logo Land in the world of competition.  

Philip Seib: "In times past, 'showing you are somebody' often meant flexing your military muscle, so relying on television rather than armies can be considered progress."

In introducing Russia Today/RT, Seib in turn quotes Svetlana Mironyuk: "'Unfortunatley, at the level of the mass conciousness in the West, Russia is associated with three words: communism, snow, and poverty. We would like to present a more complete picture of life in our country.'" (Seib, The Al Jazeera Effect, p. 38).

Seib goes on to describe Russia Today/RT: "The product is professionally slick and features a subtle but distinctly Putinesque view of the world. Many news consumers presumably recognize how the game is played and judge the information they receive accordingly." (Ibid., p. 39) Judge for yourself, if you wish: http://rt.com/

The German "product" comes via Deutsche Welle, which literally means German Wave.  Pertinently in The Al Jazeera Effect, Philip Seib quotes Cristoph Lanz: "There are more viewers watching it [Deutsche Welle] in the English language than German . . . If you have a mission statement to reach out to the world, then you have to reach across the language gap" (p. 40). DW has a drop-down menu for translation into thirty languages. Here's a link:  http://www.dw-world.de/

Even becoming aware of all these alternatives, I'm starting to feel like Thomas Jerome Newton, the Bowie character and alien in The Man Who Fell to Earth who simultaneously scans across huge banks of TVs, mesmerized by our world's goings-on. Once you're in, there seems to be no way out -- might as well enjoy the ride.

Above: Marianne Faithfull, "Broken English" (1979).

Today's Rune: Harvest.

France 24

After revisiting Philip Seib's The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics [and Culture] (2008), I'm exploring other international networks in addition to Al Jazeera. It's very important to garner multiple global perspectives, something that is hard to find on American corporate-controlled media. It's hard to be be serious about the world when every commercial news story is punctuated by inane ads for pharmaceuticals most people don't need and cars most can't afford, or dominated by shrill politicos who like things on TV exactly as they are - a lot of stupid chatter, a lot of screaming, and a lot of breaks for more ads. That is, ample proof of the truth in two prophetic statements made in the 1960s: Marshall McLuhan's "the medium is the message" (1964) and Andy Warhol's "in the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes" (1968). 

In The Al Jazeera Effect, Seib quotes Ulysse Gosset, one of the developers of France 24, a global network available free via the internet and broadcast in English, French and Arabic: "Today's news channels are part of the global battle in the world. It's as important as traditional diplomacy and economic strength. . . If we have a real desire to communicate around the world, we need to do it with the right medium, and that's English." 

Seib also quotes Alain de Pouzilhac of France 24: "Objectivity doesn't exist in the world. Honesty exists. Impiartiality exists. But objectivity doesn't exist." Pouzilhac discusses worldview and intent and the role of France 24 and French values: "paying more attention to the less well-covered parts of the world, encouraging debate, and emphasizing cultural as well as economic development . . . 'It's the opposite of what the U.S. does. The vision from Washington tries to show that the world is unified, whereas we will try to demonstrate the opposite: that the world has a lot of diversity. Diversity of culture, diversity of religion, and diversity of opinion.'" (pages 36-37).

I am very fortunate to interact with such diversity in all three of these forms every day: the more interaction, the better, in person, through social media and via freely available global services such as France 24. There's nothing to fear but fear itself, and always more to learn. Here's a link to the English language edition:  http://www.france24.com/en/

Today's Rune: Partnership.

Angela Y. Davis: Blues Legacies and Black Feminism

Already with her in spirit despite differences in gender and race, I learned a lot from Angela Y. Davis' Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday (Vintage, 1999, Random House, 1998). Building as it does on Daphne Duval Harrison's Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s (Rutgers, 1988), this work has deepened and broadened my perspective, certainly. In addition to rendering a compelling analytical study of the three major recording artists enumerated in the subtitle (who were also very popular live performers, all with enduring impact) -- and with due consideration and attention given to race, gender and class -- Davis also provides her own very helpful transcriptions of the lyrics of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.

Davis' introduction concludes:

"Finally, I hope this study will inspire readers to listen to the recordings of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday both for pleasure and for purposes of research, and that it will occasion further interdisciplinary studies of the artistic and social contributions of blues and jazz women." (p. xx).

Toward these goals, I've been working on two St. Louis and Chicago-based blues singers of the 1920s and 1930s, Luella Miller and Mary Johnson, mostly listening to their recordings and transcribing their lyrics as sung. Some of the initial results have been posted on this blog. The work of Davis, Harrison and others gives these kinds of studies impetus, direction and added relevance.  

Today's Rune: Breakthrough.