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A couple of weeks ago, I have discovered a great blogazine, side-barred at Slate, called The Root. And this really excellent article/post, The Audacity of Taupe, discusses Obama as a man of mixed race, and the changing self-image of mixed race Americans over the generations. By David Swerdlick. Black people can't argue a speeding ticket after sundown, and the only thing in life that white people can't do is use the N-word. To that simple rule, I am now officially adding the M-word. Good news, though—"Creole" has been approved for everybody's use.
I had high hopes of this City Pages review of Scorsese's No Direction Home, based on the title and the "hook" (Scorsese takes 200 minutes to preserve the mystery of Dylan). But I was disappointed, very disappointed. Biggest problem with it? The reviewer confesses that he is too young "to have ever trusted the dude in the first place" and then continues, thinking himself very hip and clever: The combative mid-'60s press conferences, the autobiographical fabrications, the mumbled cryptoquips, the endless string of overrated best-album-since-Blood on the Tracks-es--all were part of the legacy passed on to us post-Boomers. Excuse me, but do give it a rest. "Us Boomers" have heard this particular whinge quite enough, thanks. But then, having framed this as another us-vs-them generational pissing contest, he allows several howlers to creep in. He notes that "Like A Rolling Stone", in a week when it was no. 2 in the Top-10, "nestled not incongruously between the Beatles' Help and the Beach Boys' California Girls" in a screen-shot in the film. Damn, when in the 1980s or 1990s or this decade did you have three top songs of that calibre? Isn't it just too obvious that post-Boomers are suffering from the most massive case of Bloomian anxiety of influence imagineable? Isn't it all just too darned Oedipal? And then, and then, the twerp has the gall to cast aspersions on Scorsese's choice of a sound-track to the 1950s. Hey, dude, you have just told us that you were not around then, and Scorsese most definitely was, and he is a cultural giant while you are a lowly insect toiling away as a stringer for a local weekly! Where the heck do you get off telling Scorsese he got it wrong? Truly, I wish someone would write a good review of No Direction Home. Someone who "gets" Dylan, who was alive in the 60s, who respects but doesn't worship Scorsese and who doesn't have an axe to grind. Damn, that could be me. Too bad I'm so lazy.
I knew it! When they told me that young voters stayed home in droves on Tuesday, I said I didn't believe it. "I bet it's just the craven media distorting things again." And you know what? I was right.
In fact despite long lines and registration snafus, voters under age 30 clocked the highest turnout percentage since 1972. The good news is that America's young people are more engaged in politics than at any time in two generations. Aging cynics have been quick to blame the kids for a host of political lapses, but the cynics have it wrong according to the Boston Globe.
I seem to be making a habit of this! Here's another article which deconstructs the state of the Zeitgeist through the eyes of the boomer generation, rock music and Tony Blair! This one focuses on the seminal King Crimson song 21st Century Schizoid Man. Hmmm.
Stories about my generation abound these days. It must be all the famous people turning 50 (T Blair) or 60 (M Jagger) this year. This one was very touching - "The Hardest Working Band in Britain".
This is a slightly-edited copy of my daughter Aimee's e-mail response (which I invited) to the article titled "Ethical Quandary" (see 28 March, below).
I have a direct quote from one of the guys in the article that really adds
weight to my opinion (which I will get to in a second):
"This war is a catalyst that is shining light on a military that is always
strong and present and here for one reason -- to keep us safe," he said in
an e-mail.
"The world today is a safer place because of American military
capabilities."
Yeah, well. {excrement}. If you're not part of the solution you're part of the
problem. These guys started out being anti-establishment, but possibly
never really had their hearts in it (can we say 'stoned, liberal, easy
girls hang out at protests', anyone?). This guy 'sold out' as soon as it
became convenient, but lets just face it - when the keys of power, money,
and priviledge were handed to him as part of his coming-of-age, he stuffed
the man's {generative member} right in his mouth and said 'thank you very much sir'. And,
what really makes me angry is that he probably didn't sell out earlier in
life because he didn't HAVE TO, as nobody took his career as a hippie
seriously because he was no real threat because he really had nothing to
complain about and didn't care about what he WAS ever protesting.
So, they/we can be raging hypocrites and go to protests and nobody will
care, because we are ALL the fascist, capitalist, imperialist dictators we
think we're against, and all of us who drove to a protest and slabbed
Vaseline on our lips to keep them moist while we drank bottled water and
yelled 'Bush is a terrorist' in between sips of lattes and drags of a Camel
lite are all a bunch of liars.
And I'm a hypocrite for even writing this email (how DID this electricity
get here?). However, I wasn't asked to sit down at a conference table with
someone from the military and seriously considered writing missile guidance
programs for them for some cash or whatever the {common 4-letter expletive} this company did so I
probably only have maybe the little tip of a {male generative member} in my mouth. This guy's
mouth is so full he probably muffled his way through the meeting. The room
probably reeked like a peep show booth when they walked out of there and
went for some celebratory cocktails.
Oh, I'm sorry. Did I type that last bit out loud? How crude for a
mother-to-be. I should make the world all peaches and roses for my new baby
girl. Maybe if I'm lucky she'll come squirting out onto a bed of rose
petals and Barbie-doll clothes. I always heard new mothers have a really
hard time having children without doing something to make the world they're
coming into a better place. But I'm telling you this... I don't even know
where to begin.
Aimee
And this is my response. Which I am only giving because Aimee's message does end on a bit of down-hearted note and in case others are feeling as hopeless as she is (or was?) I just want to say what I can to keep hope alive. After all, I, being one of the most negative, dark and pessimistic people on the planet, have a grand-child on the way!
This was great feedback - I can tell that you think more deeply about these issues than most of the older people I know. I think your criticism of the so-called radicals of my generation is very valid. If it weren't for all the dirty words, I would post this on my blog, with your permission. But I won't because of the words, and I wouldn't want to bleep it, because that would just be more hypocrisy. (I am not opposed to strong language you understand, it is just that I wouldn't be able to access my own blog at work if I put dirty words on it because of their "security" software, and also I would hate to get one of my friends in trouble if they accessed it at work.) (As you see, I did post it after all, because she said she didn't mind being bleeped.)
Anyway, don't beat yourself up - they have Vaseline and lattes in Iraq, you know. They even have broadband internet and blogs and digital cameras. Of course, they also have a lot more starvation and poverty, and now they have collateral damage and conquering Christians, too, but then, your protesting is meant to oppose that. As for where to begin changing the world, it sort of doesn't matter. I think one place is as good as another, so long as it is your own {excrement} you are working on and not everybody else's.
I love you. Keep on being strong.
Mum
As you can see, I even had to bleep myself. Oh, well, as they say here in England, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
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