You never know what we'll churn up in cleaning a stall
WAR is a racket. It always has been.
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one
international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the
losses in lives.
Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC
— from War Is a Racket
Woodpecker had been wondering, How would it feel to get in a right-wing tone of voice, but coming from the left? Not the content, just the … invective? Or at least the wild emotions, instead of continuing to attempt reasoned discourse with the unruly classroom.
That’s what Woodpecker asked me.
An opportunity to stop by the periodicals room in a well-stocked town library had me sensing something had shifted since my last visit. The room itself, at the heart of an 1884 building, is gorgeous, with tabletop reading lamps and much dark woodwork. The local history archives are in a tall-ceilinged room behind glass at one end, while the rest of the chamber is embraced by an open contemporary addition from 2006.
This time, though, as I looked around, I realized how few of the shelves had magazine covers facing me. Mostly it was the plain metal finish. And then what hit me was that of 14 of us sitting quietly there, all but two were working on their own laptops. We could have just as easily been at Starbucks, apart from the no talking and no food requirements.
As I read short stories in Ploughshares, with its heft an assurance in my hands, I reflected on the paradox of being one who treasures a room like this and its contents and then being one who’s appearing more and more only in digital formats read on these flickering screens.
What are we to make of it, ultimately? The library has posters telling patrons they can now access their favorite magazines online at home, thanks to an institutional subscription. So how do we simply wonder and peruse, open to whimsy and discovery? What are we losing and gaining in this exchange?
Conservatives who don’t know history are dangerous. What are they conserving, anyway? If there ever was a golden era in American history, just consider the years after World War II when the New Deal direction really kicked in. (The “socialist” programs they’ve always derided.) And we’re seeing all of its downsides, as well – sexist, racial, environmental polluting, smug.
As for solutions? It’s safe to bet their ideology would lead to yet another banking meltdown. As I said about history? Bush I and Bush II, or even Harding-Coolidge-Hoover, illustrate that point.
Without banks, there’s no modern economy. (What would you barter for a computer, for one thing?)
Oh, but if you’re truly conservative, what would you need a computer for, anyway? Or anything more than a mattress?
The lessons remain:
Not a bad model for a poem, either. Or a whole collection to pack along the way.
~*~
For your own copy, click here.
When I see this …
… I think of this.
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One of those interludes when our Internet connection crashed – this one lasting more than a weekend – had me reflecting on how embedded the Digital Age has become in our daily activity. And I’m not even one of those who’s texting much or has his ears plugged into thin wires except rarely.
On one hand, apart from a bit of twitchy readjustment, it was rather liberating. I found myself catching up on a stack of magazines and a couple of books and just hanging out in the house.
On the other hand, though, I wasn’t getting my emails or making sure scheduled blog posts had run properly, much less interacting with the comments or our WordPress Reader. For that, I wound up running out to the nearby Panera for late Sunday afternoon pastry and WiFi.
Still, I’m uneasy about all these digital changes in our lives. There’s too much else right at hand we seem to be missing. Just a thought. As for you?
In the World War, we used propaganda to make the boys accept conscription. They were made to feel ashamed if they didn’t join the army.
Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler, USMC
— from War Is a Racket
Just a heads-up for anyone who might want to show up in Amesbury, Massachusetts, tonight. I’m the featured reader at this month’s Prime Time Poets gathering. The open mic starts at 6:30 in the Market Square Bakehouse, 5 Market Square, just a few blocks from John Greenleaf Whittier’s home. And, yes, I’ll be paying homage to Whittier in his more topical, acerbic vein.
Once again, Bryan P.T. Riley has put together a lively slate of reader for the coming months. Here we go!
