[lit-ideas] Re: lit-ideas Digest (editing) and Missouri)
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 18:13:49 -0600
Marlena:
Give us time, please. We're making progress.
Yes, I think we all are. Slowly. One of my daughters was going on about
how great it was that Obama had been elected, but then she said, "It must be
even more surreal to you."
Yes, it probably was, I said. It was right at 50 years ago that I was
sitting in the Little Pigs Barbecue Shop eating one of their delectable
slooow barbecued pigs. I was 14, possibly 15, I was the only customer in
the place -- a store front neighborhood eatery. The cooks, staff, etc were
behind a counter. Half way through my scrumptious slooowly barbecued pig a
black guy, a teenager, enters the place. The woman behind the counter
immediately shouts out, mean as hell: "We don't serve niggers in here."
This was 1958, maybe '59 in Memphis. He turned on his heels and left. I
was dumbfounded. My instincts were to stand up and throw the half sandwich
at the woman and shout: "Then I won't eat here either." But damn, it tasted
so good. The woman moved away from the window and the moment passed. I
lost my chance to be a moral hero. But you don't know just how good their
barbecues were. Worth going to hell for? Yes! Still don't know which
course of action was the wiser. Maybe should have called out to the black
guy, "Here, fella, you can have the rest of mine." Like he wants my
hand-me-down barbecue sandwiches! Don't know what I'd do today even. But I
do know that nothing like that would happen today. Today white racists in
Memphis look around to make sure there are no blacks in earshot before
telling nigger jokes. You might not be impressed with those changes, but
like Eric and Paul are arguing, it took a hell of a lot of white folks to
elect Obama. Things are changing, even down here. Midtown was awash in
Obama signs.
Mike Geary
Memphis
Mike Geary
Memphis
----- Original Message -----
From: <eternitytime1@xxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 3:37 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: lit-ideas Digest (editing) and Missouri)
Hi,
I was waiting for Julie to report in, but since she is distracted with
other Lit-Ideas topics, I will explain.
We have come a LONG way from 2000 and 2004. It was undecided up to the
last minute.
Final results: McCain 49.4% and Obama 49.2%
Was awfully close.
But, remember--we have to contend with this sort of thing (I'll share a
kid story)
This is about a conversation my son had in Spanish class yesterday--yes,
we thought the election was over, too. A whole group of the kids ended up
being furious that Obama had won--and there is, apparently, word that it
was because of McCain's not standing behind Bush. (this is contrary to
the other crowd he and I both know who are blaming Palin for McCain's
loss--as though she selected herself as McCain's running mate...) In case
you didn't know, Bush was and is a fantastic president. Btw...he HAD to
do *something* after 9-11. When Ben said--absolutely, and no problem going
into Afghanistan. The response was 'but Iraq is who attacked us on 9-11,
so he had to go there'. Then, when Ben tried to explain who had attacked
us, they said 'but what about all the nuclear weapons they found in Iraq'.
"WHAT nuclear weapons" he responded. "Don't
you watch tv?" They asked him. As he told me, in some exasperation, even
the biased news stations have never like that there were nuclear weapons
found. (he watches Fox each morning and has for years--he likes balance
and they do get the weather correct more than some of the others)
To her credit, the Spanish teacher (he said), never said a word during the
whole discussion--tit was at the end of the class, I guess. She did tell
him, as he was collecting his books, that he handled the situation quite
well.)
B's question to me was "Who are their parents?" and "This is what we have
to look forward to when they can vote, too." But, Missouri has Julie's
kids and mine. And, they have friends...and they THINK. (and, as my son
said--those kids would not know a credible source if they were given some
to chose from. They wouldn't last one minute in Debate. Oh, btw--last
Policy issue debated on that I judged dealt with whether or not the USA
should model its healthcare system after that of France. One of the groups
who had the 'con'--didn't use the typical arguments...they started out by
agreeing we needed to change, but just not to that of France. That we
needed to model the USA after Japan. I thought of this List, of course, at
that. For those who do not know, France according to WHO has the best
healthcare in the world...but it is, after listening to several sessions,
debatable. At least by bright Missouri High School kids. No wonder we
are all conflicted here...we see every side.)
Lates toipc that is interesting here in Missouri, is the latest
discussion points are not about moving forward, but about how wonderful
Bush is/was (it is, of course, from the WSJ opinion page, the media and
the general pubilc who have said he has done a bad job and then created
the bad job for him--not his policies, etc) Oh, and how it was Palin who
destroyed McCain's chances. I do not remember any of that sort of
discussion after Kerry lost--but it is even on the radio stations which
traditionally play music around here (except for the two stations which
just started playing Christmas music. THOSE announcers are rather cheerful
and stated that the elction was over and they were going to be gettng into
the holiday spirit. Joining Walmart which just began playing Christmas
music over their intercom system)
Give us time, please. We're making progress. The real quirk was
(maybe--need to check on this further) was all those who went
Libertarian -- and that is a question. Do you think the Republican party
will become known as the Far Right and Neo-Con party and the moderate
Republicans will all end up builiding up the Libertarian Party? In my
area, those who could not bear to vote Dem--we know some of them and most
of them have a lot of money and are very much social-issue moderates-and
that is what they did. At least about 15 families we know--all of whom
make about 6-8 times more a year than I do
...and in a .2 % difference, I wonder...
Like Julie, I'm still not sure it is real--this having Hope thing is
interesting. It will be hard, I think, to find our way back up the cliff
that we were falling from, but at least there is someone who knows how to
climb.
BUT--here is a fun thing to imagine. One of my friends is married to a
guy in the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) and their chapter all
dressed up in their uniforms to go out and vote. (We in Missouri like to
have fun, I think. At least we moderates...)
Best,
Marlena in Missouri
Where the Future is Coming
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:06:27 -0800
From: Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: I'll edit yours if you'll edit mine
Obviously I meant "in the near future", rather than "in the new
future".
Yeah, I was getting tired of the old future. When are you guys going to
get your act together in Missouri?
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