PRIVATE SPACES and OUTING A RACIST?

THE MOCKINGBIRD RISES

     Watching the world react to a revised view of Atticus Finch is probably a once in a lifetime adventure. It is a bit like when Dorothy peeked behind the curtain to learn the truth about the wizard. In Harper Lee's newly published Go Set A Watchman, the character who has become a kind of inspirational figure in civil rights causes turns out to be a cranky old man with racist views. Remember though Finch did not evolve into this. 

     The Finch we all know was the product of a revised book. To Kill A Mockingbird was a type of rewrite or retelling of the story. Go Set A Watchman came first in the creative process, but only now after a half a century is it being published. Editors challenged Lee to tell the story differently and Mockingbird morphed out of Watchman. Finch and the racial vista we will see reflects the world in which author Lee created it and Mockingbird. I make this point because early response has bordered a bit on despondency that the good man Finch became something quite different.

     Still, it is a fascinating chapter in our ongoing struggle with race. It is a kind of symbolic set piece. Racial discrimination ceased being front page news sometime after Martin Luther King and the passage of laws, but the under girding racial discord did disappear. Weather it is  incarceration numbers, economic dislocation, educational performance, police violence, crime stats or other social fissures people have lived with realities that prove race relations are still a work in progress. If you are on the downside of the equation your entire life can be skewed.

     So now comes this new old version of Finch and oh boy will we see and hear a lot of new chatter and hopefully soul searching.

QUIET SPACE

   Along Estero Bluff between Cambria and Cayucos Ca.

FED AND THE DONALD

    A note of contrast needs a moment in the light.

The great, though aging, Roger Federer valiantly struggled for yet another Wimbledon Championship. He played great tennis and made only a few mistakes. Novak Djokovic played better and pounced on those mistakes and so for the second year the younger Novak dispatched Roger. I am with those who believe that Federer is the greatest tennis player of all time. He is graceful and elegant in his play and in his manner. 

    It had to hurt deeply to lose and to know that at 33 being in championship form is harder to achieve. He's won his share, but to be so close to an historic win and see it slip away must be crushing.  But afterwards the cool Mr. Federer was nothing but grace, class and dignity. And of course Tennis is that kind of game, where fans cheer even for an opponent who makes a good shot.  

    Later on the screen I watched clips of Donald Trump. Can there be any wider gap between levels of decency, class and integrity. I know that Federer and Trump are not in the same game, but they are both wealthy and competitive. Going with a sports analogy Trump is like a big time wrestling loud mouth phony. Federer personifies a kind of  sportsmanship that reveals honor and is turned by humility. Reminds me of the old spaghetti western-The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Hand it to the Donald-He wins 2 out of that 3.

    See you down the trail.

IMPRESSED-DISAPPOINTED-DIVERTED AND TRICKY GOING

POPPING UP

   Having been so taken by the extraordinary sky scenes in the recent Bruce Taylor post, linked here, I was pleased by a couple of clouds that popped up behind these slopes in the Santa Lucia Mountains as viewed from our deck.

   Skies here are normally clear so as former mid-westerners we get excited when clouds appear. I hope you'll take the link above to see Bruce's beautiful shots that remind me of JMW Turner paintings. 

THE TROUBLE ABOUT CELEBS

    A life in the news business and one is rarely surprised by how people behave, but there are still disappointments.

    If Cosby did what he's accused of and there seems plenty of indication he did, it's despicable. And sad.

     Now they say Tom Selleck "stole" or used public water for his estate. Why? Our neighbors in Cambria pay water suppliers and none of them have the wallet of Selleck.  

     Not sure where the investigation involving Subway pitch- man Jared Fogel is going. Hope he's cleared of any wrong doing. What they're investigating is a sick and heinous problem and crime. Actually feeling sorry for Subway, though their ad agencies and marketing people get some quick work.

    And that's the point. We've become a celebrity and fame obsessed culture haven't we?  Think of how much time, space and ink these pieces have gotten while we ignore real news. How about this the troubling news we are into a new Cold War? We've managed to ignore a lot of other "issues," "threats," "problems" and the like so the old national security beat in the back of my head agitated up an admonition. I call your Selleck and raise you a Putin!

      

TRICKY ANGLING

    Can you spot the fishermen in this frame?

    They guide their kayaks into the kelp beds of the coast near Morro Rock.

   See you down the trail.

LIFE SPAN OF A LYRIC

IS THERE A SHELF LIFE?

      An especially placid and expansive blue Pacific rolled by as Paul Simon's I Am A Rock jarred a stream of memories awake.
       Then I began to wonder what Paul Simon thinks of the lyrics today. What do they mean to him now?  There are some wonderful lines beginning with the "Deep and dark December" and "the freshly fallen silent shroud of snow."
"Don't talk of love…it is sleeping in my memory"…"I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died"…"I have my books and poetry to protect me." What does the current Mr. Simon think of that 1965 version songwriter?
      Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Peter Gabriel tunes followed and I wondered again, how do songwriters think about earlier work, especially those that were hits and choreographed seminal moments in the life of a generation?
      We've changed and our perspective on those passages of life that played against the music of our era have morphed as well. Some lyrics no doubt mean the same today as they did then and as they will tomorrow, but some seem more fragile, or wed to an ethos that existed then. Is it a matter of sensitivity, emotion, a breakthrough or insight? Or perhaps it is all in the ear of the beholder.  Still, I wonder  how Simon, Dylan, Lennon, McCartney et al regard some of their early work and their labors at being profound.
      Then I hit a button and was enveloped in a Stones set and cruised up the coast in a slip stream of Wild Horses, Jumping Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man. Pretty sure there's been no slippage of meaning in those and the boys can still bang them out. Maybe somethings don't change, they only age. Cheers to the vintages.

TWIN BAMBIS

     Birthing season in Cambria brings a somewhat rare set of twins.

   Double the munch, a reason gardeners resort to fences.

SIMPLE AMUSEMENTS

    John is one of the village's most active citizens. At 90 he's learned a few amusements here between the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Pacific.

   His co-star is "Jay" as John has dubbed him.

    Our buddy Reg also gets into the act.

    Jay looks right…

 …looks left

   And he scores….

   Coming back for seconds.

   See you down the trail.

"SATURDAY IN THE PARK, I THINK IT WAS THE FOURTH OF JULY…"*

   * Thanks to Chicago for the tune and to the American Legion Post in Cambria for putting on the party.

   See you down the trail.

CUTE UGLY AND FROM CUBA

CUTE UGLY

    How can you not love a face like this?

     Little junior or sissy turkey is out for a walk and test flight. Wild Turkeys are among the population of abundant wild life here on the ridge in Cambria. The practice surface in this case is our roof.

REMINDER TO THE DONALD

   Dear Mr. Trump,

       It is an ancient wisdom and is also a Biblical lesson, "Reap what you sow."  Or if you prefer consider Newton's law or the law of Karma-for every action there is a reaction.

       Or closer to your own idiom, don't say stupid things or people may begin to think you are an egotistical idiot. That would be more people may begin to think that.

CUBA

    If you like to travel I hope you'll get to Cuba now that we have begun to normalize relations. As a toast of celebration here's a post from June 2011. Enjoy your Daiquiri. A further exploration of the extraordinary island follows below.

THE DAIQUIRI- 
AND THEN,

THE PAPA DOBLE 
Popular history affixes the creation of the daiquiri to a group of American
mining engineers who were working near Santiago Cuba.
The Daiquiri beach is near Santiago.  A bartender at the Venus bar in
Santiago is credited with making the first of the rum drinks and giving it the name of the beach.
But then the Daiquiri moved to Havana
and the Floridita Bar.

It was here where the Daiquiri met Ernest Hemingway and
where the story gets interesting. And where the Daiquiri grows up.
But first a little back story.
The paintings below hang near my kitchen.
The top painting, if it looks familiar, is a study of a Monet painting in London, 
painted by my eldest daughter Kristin.
She is a superb artist and created the piece as a student.  We like it, hung it
and often explain it to people who think it looks "familiar."
The painting below is a watercolor that I purchased from a street artist
in Havana.

This is the Havana corner as it is

and this is the water color.

The Floridita was a Hemingway favorite.  It was here

the bartenders followed the writer's directions and created

what some call the Hemingway Daiquiri.

At the Floridita they call it the

Popa Doble

2 1/2 jiggers of white rum

juice of 2 limes

juice of 1/2 grapefruit

6 drops of Maraschino cherry liquer

NO sugar

served frozen.

These descendants of Hemingway's bar tender friends can still build a 

great Popa Doble. According to legend, Popa or Poppa would pop
quite a few in one sitting.

The writer spent a lot of time at the Floridita.

His original bar stool, a the end of the bar, near a wall, has been

preserved and chained off.

Hanging above the stool is a bust and an Oswaldo Salas photograph of 

Hemingway and Fidel Castro the day Hemingway left Cuba for the last 

time.  One of my prized possessions is a copy of the photograph

signed by Oswaldo Salas.

Getting the photo and getting it out of Cuba is the story
for another post.
Cheers!

   If you are interested in Cuba, here are links to previous posts from that amazing Island nation.

The Cuba File Archive

• The Old Man and The Sea-meeting Hemingway's Captain
• Cuban File-Street Scenes
• Cuba File-The Shrine of St Lazaro
• Inside Hemingway's Home

   See you down the trail.