Light/Breezes

Light/Breezes
SUNRISE AT DEATH VALLEY-Photo by Tom Cochrun
Showing posts with label Ben Bradlee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ben Bradlee. Show all posts

Monday, January 15, 2018

TOXIC-EXPLOITIVE and WELL DONE


shadow dance
    Just that time of day, the golden hour and the trees dance with their shadows.
     Wanted to start with something mellow, because a few graphs down we step into something deep.
America at its best
      The POST is one of those films that makes you wish everyone would take a couple of hours off to go see and then join into a national conversation.
       It is a beautiful and literate script by Josh Singer and Elizabeth Hannah and masterfully directed by the maestro, Steven Spielberg. They make it a great film, and so do Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks,  Matthew Rhys, Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, Tracy Letts, Carrie Coon, Bruce Greenwood as Robert McNamara, Sarah Paulson and in fact the entire cast. But what makes it important is the history, the constitutional, philosophical and political undercurrent and the decision of the Supreme Court. 
        We would be a worse nation if we did not know of the Pentagon Papers and learn how Presidents and a series of governments lied to us and then tried to hide behind national security. Worse too if the Supreme Court had not decided in favor of a free press and the right to publish.
       These issues, framed between the drama of Katherine Graham trying to manage in a man's world (another important storyline) and the battle between her as publisher and Editor Ben Bradlee, over the right and need to publish without interference, make for material that goes to the very heart and soul of this nation.
      Aside from being a great and entertaining film, it postures important questions for this very time in America. We swamp dive later. More immediately we tip toe along the fence line. 


about men and women
     Readers, please be gentle and think this through. If you don't, it may be  as Ed Murrow once said, "this just might do nobody any good."
       I subscribe to the notion of a "toxic masculinity" a variety of men behaving badly, very badly. It could be sexual aggression, manipulation, an exclusion of women, all of which have no place in civilized and decent social behavior.
       We have seen men fall because they possessed a toxic masculinity and made victims of women and other men. But we should remember not all masculinity is toxic and we must protect that fact. 
       Once a movement to redress grievances begins, pent up anger, injury and a desire to even the score can begin to affect our vision and shade more fine lines of distinction and even reason. There are indeed good men who possess and display a healthy masculinity. In fact they are allies in the #metoo, #timesup, human rights movements, as they should be. 
      It is my belief this needs to be understood- it important for men to begin to take ownership of how boys are taught and trained and how they learn what is proper and what is not. Good men need to teach and mentor boys. 
      It is a sick irony that some women who have been victimized work in an industry that helps explain why men behave badly. Television, Film, and music have profound impact on social mores and the adoption of masculine and feminine identities. 
      Violence that is so prevalent in forms of music, gaming, film and television also has a sexual component. 
       Once parents took it as a major responsibility but something has happened since those days. It's a challenge to find parents who even teach manners. Gone are the days when a majority of families taught their off spring to be ladies or gentlemen, to be courteous and respectful. Media is as dominant as parental guidance. 
       Yes we need to spend a lot of time as a culture figuring out the what and why for toxic masculinity and what can and should we do.
       But we should widen this discussion-and please hear me out. We should also address Explotive femininity as well. 
       Exploitive Femininity? Here's a notion-do you remember how you reacted when you saw Madonna's Like a Virgin video? I saw it in the newsroom on a pre-release. Some full disclosure here--I absolutely believe in artistic freedom, even to the point of making me, or anyone else uncomfortable. I am against any kind of censorship. I am an absolutist on the right to free speech. At the moment I saw the video I thought on the one hand, she was doing a good job of emoting sexuality and on the other, oh my gosh how is this going to shape the behavior of my daughters? That was a long time ago, tame by today's standards, and before dancing, body movement, style, lyrics became as explicit as they are.
        Any woman, for that matter anyone has the right to dress and express themselves as they wish without fear of being assaulted or violated. But- there are also consequences to every behavior.
      When little girls are taught to flaunt, tease, pose, act, pretend in behavior that is sensual or sexual, beyond their age or maturation, they are being trained in sexual exploitation. Four and five year olds being taught to move like  Beyonce, Lil Kim, Miley Cyrus, etc. etc. is twisted, and maybe even worse. How many kids are growing up wanting or pretending to be a singer who continues to visit their own genitalia? There are consequences to every behavior.
       Do you remember when strippers did their thing in bars and when cheer leaders acted more like gymnasts? I happen to think the human body is a beautiful thing, but it seems even professional dress is a lot more explicit and revealing. Who ever heard of side boob revelations? It's even a form of social media reporting. There is a time and place for everything. Again there are consequences.
      How many of you who have managed in an environment where there was a woman on staff who plied her wiles to woo, influence or try to manipulate you. I've attended  discussions where management techniques to stop and disarm the exploitation were on the table. I shut down those kind of advances, not so much because I was a paragon of virtue but because that kind of behavior was toxic, dangerous and could lead to serious repercussions for the manager and the company. Still there are people who use their sexuality as a tool. That too is Exploitive Femininity.
      I am not for a moment trying to dampen the reckoning that is underway and long over due, but I think our national conversation must be expansive, holistic and honest. All pieces of the sexual political puzzle need to be on the table.
     The point here is to suggest there is a lot about how boys and girls pick up cues as to how to be men and women, straight or gay, that needs examination and fixing. Now that we live in a world where trans, and in transition are identity groups, the conversation needs to be enlightened, intelligent and non judgmental.  It is complex and multi faceted.

        The work of artist Bryn Forbes symbolizes, for me the intricacies of the debate.
         His recent series A Light Behind Every Window explains the deeply byzantine and abstruse nature of sexual politics.
Frames from A Light Behind Every Window by Bryn Forbes

          It won't be an easy conversation, but it is necessary.
There is a lot to unpack. And, sadly, we have a sick and despicable role model marauding through our culture now and his supporters must come to accept guilt for his revolting and degrading behavior.
not worthy
     Have you seen the video of the idiot in chief blowing the lines of the National Anthem. The National Anthem for heavens sake!! He is supposed to be president and he doesn't know the national anthem?
     His comment-the shit hole statement-confirms his racism. I'm surprised by the reaction(?) of Mike Pence. Oh, you didn't see any either eh? Did he sell his soul to get on the ticket?
     It is bad enough the jerk is fouling the White House, worse that some 30% of American voters still support him. That too is toxic.

      See you down the trail.



       

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

HOW DO YOU BECOME A "MAN"? and HAPPY HOUR IN THE CORRAL

HAPPY HOUR
  Some think of California as LA, Hollywood, SoCal, San Francisco, freeways, beaches, show business and population.
   Many forget California is "the west."  Sure, there are eastern states where they can wear the title of "the west," but none are as western as California. I frequently see cowboys, on horseback, riding the range, tending to cattle. We have friends who are ranchers and a lot of what they do is traditional cowboy work.
    So while happy hour can be a cold beer, glass of wine or cocktail, it can also be this.


     Seeing horses on a mountain side, kicking up dust in the long slant of evening sun, I feel as though I'm in a cowboy movie-in my case it would be Billy Crystal's City Slickers!!!  


HOW TO BE A MAN
     A comment in a program about women in war launched me on a thought trail. No disrespect to that issue.  In fact I encourage viewing of  MAKERS, an excellent series on PBS, but this concept of "being a man" is stuck in my head.
      It was said it used to be the only way a male could prove his manhood was to go to war. If I were an anthropologist I might refute that historical premise. However, in our age, manhood certainly comes in many faces, roles, and iterations.
      A life of labor, providing for a family come to mind. Setting aside individual dreams to assure a quality of life for children is a very manly thing. There are countless journey's to "manhood"-living honorably, true to ideals, teaching, being a cop, staying sober, back breaking labor, medical work, emergency services, mentoring, emigrating and starting over, building, leading a church choir, driving a cab, being a lineman, editing a newspaper, plumbing, lawyering, running a business, investigating hate groups, challenging bad laws, standing up for the abused or disenfranchised, being a correspondent, philanthropy, creating, and on and on. Women do these things too and making such a point should serve to underscore how gender judging ideas like "manhood" or "womanhood" are anachronistic. Maybe it is better to think of our humanity instead.
     There is still combat, danger, crime, evil, hatred and other, perils, disasters and destruction's of life. Men and women will  respond and sometimes in heroic and sacrificial ways. I think a nation is indebted to those who go into harm's way (There is very little that is manly or womanly in the way this nation has historically responded to our service personnel. But that is another discussion. And too medical workers and journalists who endure combat or natural violence, without weapons, are rarely remembered for their service)
     Valor and courage are fine human attributes, but they can also be manifest in hard work, sacrifice, loyalty, reliability, honesty and devotion.
      We've all known good men and good women who have simply been brave in the way they have lived good lives. 
      If we can think of manhood in diverse ways, beyond the context of struggle, then maybe we can start putting down our clubs, spears, guns and bombs.
GOOD BYE TO A GOOD GUY
Courtesy of Mediabistro.com/
    Ben Bradlee was no saint, but he was a helluva of good newspaper man. He spoke his mind, guided the Washington Post to an era of greatness, presided over the courageous Watergate coverage, was friend and confident to Presidents, an advocate of a strong and free press and an entertaining story teller.
      To generations of journalists he was a kind of patron saint, a standard bearer. 
       Ben Bradlee, 93. -30-

      See you down the trail.

Monday, June 11, 2012

WHAT IF & THE SURF

MIND GAMES
    Following neural links of a writer's imagination could provide a blue print for a wild ride at Disneyland or Universal Studios.
      The lights flickered, the computer and television stuttered and the phone blipped before we were inundated in darkness.  The only illumination up here on the ridge were solar powered foot path lights.  There was no wind, no rain and no logical explanation.
       Someone hit a power pole?  No sirens, no emergency wail.  An earthquake?  Nothing shook or trembled.  A rolling brown out?  Where and why? There had been no peak demand.  News time on a Sunday evening and the world goes dark.  A deliberate sabotage?  Now the mind is off and racing as I scramble for flashlights and lanterns.  
        Being forcefully unplugged from the grid, mid sentence in an e-mail and mid story on the news and weird thoughts race into mind.  The practical uptake was a stark reminder of the What If factor.  How inconvenient, then how difficult and eventually how isolating it would be to have no lights, no power, no ability to know why all the while growing in helplessness. Heaven forbid any of us have to live through that, though there are places in the world where it's real.
ANOTHER EXERCISE IN WHAT IF
      On break at tennis this morning we chatted about the 
recent Woodward and Bernstein historical perspective on
how dangerous and how bad Watergate and the Nixon conspirators really were.  The advantage of historical research and the emergence of recordings, data and records under girded their new accounting.
      One of the foursome is a retired Wall Street Journal editor.  He and I chortled over how when a group of journalism students were asked how would they uncover the Watergate scandal some replied they'd enter a Google search.  Really!
      As you get over that one, try out the idea, What if
Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee listened to some of his carping senior staff and refused to give young Woodward and Berstein freedom to pursue the investigation.  And the big What If Nixon and his compatriot's lying and cover up were never exposed.  We'll just let that one hang out there for a while.   Could be the basis of a helluva screen play huh?
ENOUGH PARANOIA?
LET THIS SOOTHE YOU
A DAY BOOK VIDEO
See you down the trail