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Daily Archives: 11 Dec 05
A Political Horror
“‘Homecoming,’ an episode in Showtime’s ‘Masters of Horror’ series, likely will be remembered more for its blatant political message than for its level of suspense and fright. In this production, Jon Tenney stars as David Murch, one of the president’s key speechwriters, and Thea Gill plays Jane Cleaver, a nutty, name-calling political analyst with more than a passing resemblance to Ann Coulter.
When the two are guests on a ‘Larry King’-type cable show, Murch tells the mother of a dead soldier that he, too, wishes her son could return home. If he did, Murch said, the young GI would tell her that the fight was not in vain. Oops, bad move. Murch’s words are enough to stir the dead, and what they have to say doesn’t exactly jibe with the president’s talking points.” (Reuters)
Solastalgia
A University of Newcastle ecologist coined this term when he realized there was no word in English to connote the yearning for comfort in the face of desolation of one’s home space or territory. Environmental trauma entails not only material losses but a loss of sense of place and sense of control, on both the individual and community level. It is obviously in play in massive local or regional environmental catastrophes such as hurricanes, earthquakes, mudslides, floods and brush fires, but more gradual and pervasive environmental change leaves us all rootless and uncomforted as well. Solastalgia is a convenient term to explore the psychosocial and mental health impact of ecological change. I realize that I post pieces on irrevocable environmental change here quite often as a way to investigate and cope with my distress at what is happening to my bioregion and the ecosphere. These will comprise FmH’s new Dept. of Solastalgia from here on.
Incalculable pain
“The Pentagon is underreporting the number of American soldier casualties in Iraq“, seven House Democrats accuse in a letter to President Bush this week. (Salon)
R.I.P. Eugene J. McCarthy
Mr. McCarthy was a disarming presence on the stump as he mixed a wry tone and a hard, existential edge in challenging the White House, the Pentagon and the superpower swagger of modern politicians.” (New York Times )
Of all the presidential candidates during my lifetime, McCarthy in 1968 was quite simply the one most worth an idealist’s working for (Howard Dean notwithstanding), although there were some puzzling aspects of his later stances, including the endorsement of Reagan over Carter in 1980 and supports for the former’s Star Wars strategic defense initiative. Unlike George Bush’s contemptible attempt to appropriate the legacy of Ronald Reagan after the latter’s death, however, the diametrically opposite Bush Co. are utterly incapable of even understanding McCarthy’s brand of politics — concerned with principle rather than outcome; thoughtful, poetic and intellectually honest — and I predict there will not even be an acknowledgement from the dysadministration of his passing.
![//graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/12/11/national/11mccarthy_184.jpg' cannot be displayed]](https://i0.wp.com/graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/12/11/national/11mccarthy_184.jpg "Eugene McCarthy, R.I.P.")
The 5th Annual New York Times Year in Ideas
“This issue marks the fifth anniversary of what is becoming a venerable tradition at the magazine: The Year in Ideas. As always, we seek to gain some perspective on what has transpired since January by compiling a digest of the most noteworthy ideas of the past 12 months.” (New York Times Magazine)
Which is your favorite?
Related:
What’s the Big Idea?
“The author of a history of ideas talks about what counts as an idea, his idea of bad ideas (monotheism, Freudianism) and why no one ever has a great idea in the middle of the night.” (New York Times Magazine)
Tracing Shadows
![//graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/12/09/nyregion/10chalk184.4.jpg' cannot be displayed]](https://i0.wp.com/graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/12/09/nyregion/10chalk184.4.jpg "'Ellis G.'") |
“It began this spring without explanation: fire hydrants, street signs and bicycles all over Park Slope and Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn were suddenly standing watch over their own distorted chalk outlines, as if anticipating some violent demise. Whoever did this left no clue other than an ambiguous signature: ‘© Ellis G. 2007,’ scrawled next to the chalk etchings.
During daylight, the outlines did not make much sense. Shopkeepers and bar owners had little information. Deliverymen muttered to themselves as they moved their outlined bicycles indoors. Parents were just as confused as their young children. But under the orange glow of the streetlights, the intent became clear: the outlines are shadows, burned into the sidewalk. The man behind this mystery, who in the last six months has outlined thousands of objects throughout Brooklyn, is ‘Ellis G.,’ or as his parents know him, Ellis Gallagher, a Brooklyn artist. His chalk drawings are a private joke between him and anyone in Brooklyn who takes the time to look at his work before the snow or rain washes it away.” (New York Times ) |
Annals of Environmental Decline (cont’d.)
Record Drought Cripples Life Along the Amazon: “The Amazon River basin, the world’s largest rain forest, is grappling with a devastating drought that in some areas is the worst since record keeping began a century ago. It has evaporated whole lagoons and kindled forest fires, killed off fish and crops, stranded boats and the villagers who travel by them, brought disease and wreaked economic havoc.” (New York Times )
R.I.P. Eugene J. McCarthy
Mr. McCarthy was a disarming presence on the stump as he mixed a wry tone and a hard, existential edge in challenging the White House, the Pentagon and the superpower swagger of modern politicians.” (New York Times )
Of all the presidential candidates during my lifetime, McCarthy in 1968 was quite simply the one most worth an idealist’s working for (Howard Dean notwithstanding), although there were some puzzling aspects of his later stances, including the endorsement of Reagan over Carter in 1980 and supports for the former’s Star Wars strategic defense initiative. Unlike George Bush’s contemptible attempt to appropriate the legacy of Ronald Reagan after the latter’s death, however, the diametrically opposite Bush Co. are utterly incapable of even understanding McCarthy’s brand of politics — concerned with principle rather than outcome; thoughtful, poetic and intellectually honest — and I predict there will not even be an acknowledgement from the dysadministration of his passing.
