dual personalities

Tag: books

July 4, 2024

For what avail the plough or sail, Or land or life, if freedom fail?

by chuckofish

Happy Independence Day!

We grant no dukedoms to the few,
We hold like rights and shall;-
Equal on Sunday in the pew,
On Monday in the mall.
For what avail the plough or sail,
Or land or life, if freedom fail?

The noble craftsmen we promote,
Disown the knave and fool;
Each honest man shall have his vote,
Each child shall have his school.
A union then of honest men,
Or union nevermore again.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson, from “Boston”–read it here.

Today in St. Louis we are also celebrating the 150th anniversary of the opening of Eads Bridge, a true architectural marvel. It was the first bridge in St. Louis, the first in the world to use steel and the first in the U.S. to use caissons for its piers.

At the time there were many doubters who were concerned about the safety of the structure, but people were reassured two weeks before the grand opening by the sight of an elephant lumbering across the wagon deck. It was an unscientific test, but in the 19th century many people believed elephants knew instinctively not to set foot on unsound structures. (This made me think of that famous scene in Gunga Din (1939) when the elephant is willing to step onto the rickety bridge to follow Cary Grant…)

Needless to say, Eads bridge was sound…

Well then, exactly at daybreak on July 4, 1874 on a clear and sunny day, a thirteen-gun salute was fired to honor the original colonies of the United States. At 9 a.m. 100 guns were fired, fifty on each side of the the Mississippi River, to signal the beginning of a huge parade.

“A link of steel unites the East and West” was painted on one side of the bridge’s main arch. On the other side, decorated with evergreens, appeared a fifty-foot-high portrait of the man of the hour, James B. Eads. A display of fireworks completed the evening festivities.

I hope you all have fun plans to celebrate Independence Day with friends and family. If not, read some Emerson or Whitman, watch an old movie like Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) or Alleghany Uprising (1939)…

What is the meaning of this intrusion?

…Read Esther Forbes’ fine book Paul Revere and the World He Lived In or Eric Metaxas’ If You Can Keep It: the Forgotten Promise of American Liberty or David McCullough’s 1776.

“The year 1776, celebrated as the birth year of the nation and for the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was for those who carried the fight for independence forward a year of all-too-few victories, of sustained suffering, disease, hunger, desertion, cowardice, disillusionment, defeat, terrible discouragement, and fear, as they would never forget, but also of phenomenal courage and bedrock devotion to country, and that, too they would never forget.”

Be proud. Be loud. Open the windows and blast your neighbors! That’s what we did when I was growing up. We had this LP and this was one of my favorite pieces:

God bless America!

2 Comments
June 5, 2024

Mid-week musings

by chuckofish

Today we toast the American writer Stephen Crane, who died on this day in 1900 at the age of 28. He wrote poetry and short stories and the famous war novel The Red Badge of Courage.

A river, amber-tinted in the shadow of its banks, purled at the army’s feet; and at night, when the stream had become of a sorrowful blackness, one could see across it the red, eyelike gleam of hostile camp-fires set in the low brows of distant hills.

John Huston made a movie adaption of the novel in 1951 starring Audie Murphy. Although I know a man who just thinks it is the best movie ever, I find that hard to believe, given the star and the director, but I should see it before I judge. I should also read the book again, which I may have read in high school, but I do not remember it clearly. The Civil War scene in How the West Was Won (1962) where George Peppard drinks from the bloody river with the confederate deserter is derivative I’m sure. Anyway, I’ll add that to my list.

Willa Cather wrote this lovely piece –When I Knew Stephen Crane–and sums him up brilliantly. She was a college girl when she was acquainted with him briefly in Lincoln, Nebraska and he opened up to her on a memorable evening.

Men will sometimes reveal themselves to children, or to people whom they think never to see again, more completely than they ever do to their confreres. From the wise we hold back alike our folly and our wisdom, and for the recipients of our deeper confidences we seldom select our equals. The soul has no message for the friends with whom we dine every week. It is silenced by custom and convention, and we play only in the shallows. It selects its listeners willfully, and seemingly delights to waste its best upon the chance wayfarer who meets us in the highway at a fated hour. There are moments too, when the tides run high or very low, when self-revelation is necessary to every man, if it be only to his valet or his gardener. At such a moment, I was with Mr. Crane.

I will also note that Stagecoach (1939) is on TCM tonight. It is always a good time to watch this movie, which is one of the best 96 minutes ever put on film. Stagecoach was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture; Thomas Mitchell received an Academy Award for his supporting role as “Doc Boone,” and Richard Hageman, Franke Harling, John Leipold and Leo Shuken received an Academy Award for their score. Stagecoach also made the National Board of Review’s ten best list, and John Ford was honored as best director of 1939 by the New York Film Critics. It catapulted the western genre into the A-film realm. (And, of course, the stunts are out of this world.)

Here’s Viggo Mortensen’s take on Stagecoach:

So read an old book, watch an old movie (again) and praise God from whom all blessings flow!

(The photo is Stephen Crane in Corwin Knapp Linson’s studio on West 22nd Street, Manhattan, c. 1894, when Crane was writing The Red Badge of Courage.)(Syracuse University Libraries via Roger Williams University)

3 Comments
May 30, 2024

This and that, here and there

by chuckofish

Today marks the 113th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500 race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ray Harmon was the first winner of the 500-mile auto race in his Marmon Wasp.

I will toast Harmon and his Wasp with an orange soda and the wee bud, who, as you know, loves all things with four wheels and a motor.

It is also the birthday of film director Howard Hawks, born in 1898 in Goshen, Indiana. I appreciate him more and more as the years go by. As Orson Welles once said in an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, “Hawks is great prose; [John] Ford is poetry.” I think that is a good assessment. Anyway, I will watch one of his many great movies tonight. Maybe Air Force (1943) since I have been on a WWII kick since Memorial Day.

Meanwhile the new Longmire book arrived on Tuesday and I am happily catching up with Walt and Henry…

Katie and Ida are hanging out on the deck…

…and the bud is playing it cool on the driveway…

And Anne hits the nail on the head several times in this one.

Here’s to the last day of school! Hang in there! God is in control!

3 Comments
May 2, 2024

Like a cedar in Lebanon*

by chuckofish

Today is the first day of my 50th high school reunion extravaganza. Please pray for me. I am going to two of the five planned events/get-togethers. And my two oldest BFFs are coming over for lunch on Saturday. Also our church Pig Roast is being held later that day…so it will be a busy weekend!

This bit from Amor Towles’ new novella Eve in Hollywood seems apropos:

Taking a deep breath, Prentice steeled his resolve and began making his way through the crowd toward his host.

It was a humbling journey. A gauntlet composed of every sort of slight. First there was the director of light romances who turned his body just enough to make a casual encounter with Prentice less likely. Then the actress who hadn’t worked since the advent of talkies, who waved at Prentice enthusiastically. Then the writer of droll comedies who nudged a fellow scribbler in order to make a wry remark resulting in an audible guffaw. While scattered throughout were starlets whose eyes barely settled on Prentice at all, recognizing instinctively from the way the others treated him that he was not a man of consequence.

Well, so be it. For that which humbles our sense of vanity prepares us to face that which insults our sense of honor!

Today is also the National Day of Prayer. Following a challenge by Billy Graham, the spring observance was established by President Harry Truman  in 1952. Get praying, y’all.

I have to say: thank goodness for Florida. The University of Florida released a memo to students late last week outlining what conduct was unacceptable and the consequences that protesters would face if they chose to violate school policy. “This is not complicated: The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children — they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences,” the school said. Local media reported that nine individuals were arrested on campus by the university’s police department and the Florida Highway Patrol. Would that other universities and college administrators could be so direct and follow through so mindfully.

But this. Please.

And here is John Piper’s counsel for godly parenting. Really good advice.

*The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

–Psalm 92: 12-15

2 Comments
May 1, 2024

Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories*

by chuckofish

Hello from daughter #2! I am checking in today to share a bit from our new home in the midwest. We have been here for nearly 3 months, and I think that is fairly represented in the state of our unpacking. We have been entirely functional for quite some time, we have purchased a few vintage/antique “scores” for new spaces we have in this house, and we have hung up some artwork — albeit, mostly in existing holes in the walls. The basement, however, is still hiding dozens of half-packed boxes.

One of the biggest undertakings has been the gargantuan task of unpacking our book collection. DN and I had lived in two apartments and a house together before moving to this home, which means we have packed and unpacked (or stored) books numerous times. DN brought boxes that had been packed for 10 years!

“I am unpacking my library. Yes, I am. The books are not yet on the shelves, not yet touched by the mild boredom of order. . . .I must ask you to join me in the disorder of crates that have been wrenched open, the air saturated with the dust of wood, the floor covered with torn paper, to join me among piles of volumes that are seeing daylight again after two years of darkness, so that you may be ready to share with a bit of the mood–it is certainly not an elegiac mood but, rather, one of anticipation–which these books arouse in the genuine collector.”

Walter Benjamin, “Unpacking My Library”

Yes, there was a satisfying anticipation to seeing the collection spread out all together on our dining room floor — I was happy to remember all that we have, and consider how we might sort things, and arrange them in various places, and decide what I might re-read next. The project also revealed, in a satisfying way, all that could be sorted out of the collection: mostly those books I never liked in the first place, but held onto for some feeling of what I should have or might need as a “literary scholar.” How freeing to simply keep the books I like!

Fun fact: all these years collecting together account for five copies of Mrs. Dalloway and six copies of Moby-Dick, none of which we would really consider giving away. There’s the first copy of Moby-Dick I ever read, the copy I purchased in Ireland to re-read, the copy I gave to DN the first Christmas after I met him, at least one desk copy, a new Norton Critical Edition that was sent to me, and a Rockwell Kent illustrated edition that my mother gave me. I recall once babysitting children at their grandparents’ house, where the man had an entire (full) bookcase dedicated to editions of Moby-Dick. He also had a pond with koi named Moby and Dick. Oh, how I can now relate!

This project is not yet complete, but it is satisfying to see the built-in bookshelves in our family room nearly full with books (and yes, a few toys).

*Walter Benjamin, from the same essay

3 Comments
April 30, 2024

The best ever

by chuckofish

Can you believe this is the last day of April? Me neither. We had a drought–now we have flooding! A lot of rain over the weekend and Sunday night. Hoo-boy!

Well, today we remember Richard McClure Scarry (1919-1994) who died on this day thirty years ago. His books are just the best–he actually has a series of Best Ever books–I mean, don’t we all wish we could live in Busytown?

Scarry published his first book in 1949. Over his lifetime he published 300 more and had total sales of over 100 million worldwide. Three generations of my family have really loved these books. (I still do!)

The young bud plays with lots of toys when he visits our house, but he almost always ends up in Busytown.

Who do you relate to best?

Personally I always picture myself as Dingo Dog when I drive around town in my Mini Coop…

So a toast to Richard Scarry and all the inhabitants of Busytown! And brush your teeth!

3 Comments
April 23, 2024

Meditate on these things

by chuckofish

I received some good books for my birthday–I mean does my family know me or what?

I got some other nice things as well, including archival boxes to aid me in my quest to be organized. However, the twins quickly became bored with my presents as I opened my pile of goodies and returned to playing with Mr. Smith. But I will have no excuse for being bored for some time.

Just a reminder that yesterday was the 62nd Anniversary of the release of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). ​​​​​​​​​

In its review, The New York Times heralded Duke as a paragon of the Western genre, writing, “Mr. Wayne again proves, if it is necessary at this late date, that he can sit a horse well, shoot from the hip and throw a haymaker with the best of them.” Well, he could do a lot more than that and he did in this great film, which is a lot more than your everyday, run-of-the-mill western. But you know that. Anyway, if you are looking for something good to watch, I suggest Liberty Valance.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

–Philippians 4:8-9

4 Comments
March 26, 2024

An omniscience of godwits*

by chuckofish

It has been a very windy winter and now it is a very windy spring. And by that, I mean very windy. I am tired of the wind rattling around the corners of my house. And there is not enough hairspray in the world to handle some very bad hair days. I so relate to Peppermint Patty:

Heavy sigh.

Currently I am reading several books.

A few weeks ago when I posted about the movie Our Town (1944), I ordered a used copy of the biography of Thornton Wilder by Penelope Niven published in 2012. She wrote it over a ten-year period and used thousands of his papers housed at Yale which had previously been unavailable. It is, as the New York Times’ review wrote, “deeply researched and fluidly written”. But that seems mild praise for a really good biography. The author understands context and does not judge Wilder from a 21st century elitist viewpoint. She is not on a mission to prove either his gayness or his cisgender identity or to bash him for being a white male. I am enjoying it a lot.

Ask Pastor John, which I mentioned a few weeks ago, summarizes and organizes ten years of the most insightful episodes of John Piper’s popular podcasts. It includes 750 Bible Answers to life’s big questions–seriously, if you have a question, Pastor John attempts to answer it.

Get honest with your motives and plead for help. Determining why we choose what we do is ‘a huge burden.’ Our culture’s media warp us, our sinful hearts shroud our true motives, and we are ‘prone to come up with a theology and an ethical framework that justifies our desires.’

The green book is Volume I in the “The R.C. Sproul Signature Classics” collection which The OM gave me for Christmas a few years ago. It includes The Holiness of God and Chosen by God. It is eminently readable.

Well, you know, it is good to have options when you wake up in the middle of the night and the wind is threatening to blow your house down and you cannot fall back to sleep.

Anne has this to say about an encounter in Marshalls with a Satanist. ““Christians,” she explains, “are quite literally… the most hateful people I have ever encountered in my life.” Not to be pedantic, but this can’t be true because she is a Satan-worshiper, and Satan quite literally is the most hateful being ever to exist. You can’t get more hateful than the Devil. But I can understand why she would feel this way. Discovering you are wrong and are committed to the wrong people and ideas is painful. So painful that each of us resist it to the outermost parts of the sea. But even there the Lord can go and snatch a creature out of the clutches of Satan. This is technically the most loving thing that can ever happen to anyone, even though it might be unpleasant in the moment. But how comfortable is it to get your cheeks pierced and your neck tattooed? I feel like having to chat with a Christian in the beauty section of Marshalls wouldn’t even barely compete.”

And I liked this.

*This is a wonderful reflection on the way we name collectives, whether of birds or people. “Or if you’re in a metaphysical mood, what about an omniscience of godwits, a contradiction of sandpipers, or my personal favorite — an invisibleness of ptarmigans? This is the sound of one hand clapping.”

Now go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

3 Comments
March 5, 2024

This leaping combustion of spring*

by chuckofish

In my daily Bible reading I am currently reading Deuteronomy. Moses really has his hands full with those stiff-necked Jews.

And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.

–Deuteronomy 8:19

Of course, nothing has changed since then and we are worse than ever. Remember what Calvin said about the human heart being a factory of idols. He had read Deuteronomy!

In other news, today we celebrate the birthday of American illustrator and author Howard Pyle (1853-1911). Pyle was widely respected during his life and continues to be well regarded by illustrators and fine artists. His contemporary Vincent Van Gogh wrote in a letter to his brother Theo that Pyle’s work “struck me dumb with admiration.” I had a copy of Otto of the Silver Hand as a child, which deeply effected me. Looking at his art makes me want to watch Captain Blood (1936)–clearly the art director of this film was a fan of Howard Pyle.

Sixty-seven years later Hollywood still looked to Pyle for inspiration…

Today is also the anniversary of the day the great actor William Powell died in 1984. He was in a lot of really good movies throughout his long career, most notably The Thin Man (1934) et al, My Man Godfrey (1936), Life With Father (1947), and Mister Roberts (1961). I recommend watching any of these. Pour yourself a highball first.

This is a good example of sports testimony. “So yes, a missed pop fly did lead to grace — revealed in the instincts of a loving father, the kindness and generosity of a doctor, and a gift that kindled a lifetime of enriching interests. Sometimes the things we fear the most do happen. But that is not the end; there is One who is more. In those panic-stricken and dark moments, grace mysteriously goes to work.”

And speaking of baseball, can you even believe the uniform debacle in the MLB? See-through pants? Mis-matched uniforms? Stupid Nike.

And did you hear that the “British Board of Film Classification has decided to raise the rating on Mary Poppins from U (for Universal) to PG because of racial slurs. At two points in the film the neighbor of the Banks family, Admiral Boom, uses the term “Hottentots,” which some people now consider a derogatory name for one of the indigenous peoples of South Africa. The film has also been criticized for blackface because of the scene in which sooty chimney sweeps dance over rooftops.” (World News Group) The world is a clown show.

Enjoy your Tuesday. Do not forget the Lord.

*D.H. Lawrence, “The Enkindled Spring”

4 Comments
January 16, 2024

Suffer me not to be insensible to these daily mercies

by chuckofish

Yesterday morning I had to get up and at ’em early to go to the Mini dealer for maintenance on the old Coop. Always a fun prospect, but even more fun when it is -5 degrees. They are so high tech now–they send you a video on your phone while you are waiting to let you know what’s going on.

Also, they have good coffee and Clif Bars in the waiting room.

After I got home I finished reading If You Can Keep It by Eric Metaxas so I could go to the women’s book club at church last night.

I do not attend book clubs as a rule, because I am too critical and usually hate the book that has been chosen. But since it was a non-fiction book, I felt that I could handle it. As the back cover says, “In 1787, when the Constitution was drafted, a woman asked Ben Franklin what the founders had given the American people. ‘A republic,’ he shot back, ‘if you can keep it.’ More than two centuries later, Metaxas examines what that means and how we are doing on that score.” The author believes that we need to rekindle the love for our country that we Americans use to have and I quite agree. I liked the book.

“It is the real stories of heroes like Washington and Nathan Hale and others that help us to properly feel the power of the ideas behind them. We must feel the horror of tyranny and must love the noble idea of liberty. We must love America. We cannot reduce things to the intellectual. In the end we must feel those ideas and see them embodied in heroes and stories. By deciding that every potential hero is too flawed to celebrate and venerate, or that such stories are somehow corny, we have done a grave disservice to several generations and to the country.”

Well, don’t get me started on that subject.

Anyway, I managed to drive there and back in the windy snow, so yay me. And thank you, Jesus.

And here’s a good reminder to be thankful for all the blessings we enjoy:

I thank Thee for the temporal blessings of this world—the refreshing air, the light of the sun, the food that renews strength, the raiment that clothes, the dwelling that shelters, the sleep that gives rest, the starry canopy of night, the summer breeze, the flowers’ sweetness, the music of flowing streams, the happy endearments of family, kindred, friends. Things animate, things inanimate, minister to my comfort. My cup runs over.

Suffer me not to be insensible to these daily mercies. Thy hand bestows blessings: Thy power averts evil. I bring my tribute of thanks for spiritual graces, the full warmth of faith, the cheering presence of Thy Spirit, the strength of Thy restraining will, Thy spiking of hell’s artillery.

Blessed be my sovereign Lord!

–Valley of Vision
5 Comments