My review of The Foxfire 45th Anniversary Book: Singin', Praisin', Raisin'

In 1987, I performed the lead in Foxfire, a play with songs, by Susan Cooper and Hume Cronyn, based on the Foxfire books about Appalachian culture and traditions in North Georgia. I loved being Annie Nations. I adored the young man who played my husband, and still call him "Hector." I remember once in rehearsal when I was supposed to be angry, and my Hector just wasn't giving me anything to work with - the audience would see any reason for me to get angry. So I told him I really, really needed him to get angry or annoyed - something. And he said, "But how can I get angry at those sweet brown eyes..." I'll always love "my" Hector (hi, Andy!).

Foxfire was a natural choice for the theater department at Western Kentucky University, and I was beyond honored to be in the show. It remains one of the most special, wonderful experiences of my life. But I didn't really know the story of Foxfire, not until years later. In case you don't know the story: the Foxfire series began in 1966, when a high school class in Georgia interviewed their relatives and local citizens about their youth and young adult days, their traditions and culture, and how things had changed for them over time. The stories were published in a magazine, and those stories are also expanded and published in books. The content is written as a mixture of how-to information, first-person narratives, oral history and folklore.

I found The Foxfire 45th Anniversary Book: Singin', Praisin', Raisin' last year at the Texas Book Festival and finally got around to reading it this year.

I have mixed feelings about it.

Any project that is working to preserve the voices of elders and their culture from their youth and younger days deserves to be lauded. If you have enjoyed listening to your own grandparents and elderly family members talking about their youth and early adult days, whether they lead a rural, urban or somewhere-in-between life, you know how precious those stories are, and the appeal of the Foxfire stories won't at all be a surprise to you. This particular book is a good representation of what the series generates annually and regularly, and if you aren't familiar with rural white culture beyond stereotypes on TV and in movies, this is a good introduction - it's best to pop on a bluegrass soundtrack to get the full effect. And if you are familiar with this region and love its music and land and food culture - as I do (I'm from Kentucky), you also will love it as it lovingly, reverently talks about such - you may even find, like me, hearing the people in this book telling stories and situations you have heard from your own family members. It also is a great example of what could be done in regions all over the world: young people going out into their own communities and preserving the stories of their elders. If you are looking for a monologue for an audition or other drama performance, this provides outstanding source material.

However, there are some uncomfortable insights that some readers will experience, at least I did: the presence of black Americans in the area is almost completely ignored, not only in the choice of storytellers but in the recorded memories of the storyteller. There ARE black Americans in Appalachia - Google it if you don't believe me. There are no mentions in this book of the ugly sides of historic mountain life, like child marriage or racism. There are also idealizations that just simply aren't true, not only by the storytellers but by the editors, like this from the start of the chapter entitled "Knoxville Girl: Crime Close to Home": "Crimes were rare and murders were virtually unheard of... " That is just patently not true. The overall perpetuation of poverty as "beautiful" in this book makes me uncomfortable. I appreciate what the book honors, but I just so wonder how many stories get left out because they might make local people not look quite so noble and honorable.

It was also disturbing to find out that the founder of the project molested young children, which I did when I did a little online research in writing this review. I'm so glad the project has survived that disturbing association - I hope MercyCorps does as well. But all I could think that's a perfect example of what I mean: bad things happen everywhere, including in Appalachia. No place is paradise, no time is a perfect time. We need to acknowledge the bad with the good.

Forgiving Shelly Winters

I watched way, way too much TV when I was growing up. And one of the shows I watched way too much of was Donahue. Why a pre-teen girl would watch Donahue, who knows... his shows weren't salacious like day-time talk shows today - even Oprah at times went down the ratings-sweeps road that Donahue avoided (I'm still mad about your amplification of the anti-vaccine movement, Oprah...). I just thought the topics were always interesting.

I remember one Donahue episode in particular: his guest was Shelly Winters. Shelly Winters has put in some incredible film performances I admire hugely: in A Place in the Sun, Executive Suite, The Night of the Hunter, The Diary of Anne Frank, Alfie, Lolita, Harper and, of course, The Poseidon Adventure. She generates sympathy for characters that, in real life, annoy me. She forces you to see the humanity and pathos behind people you might dismiss as whiney and socially-awkward and completely not self-aware in the real world.

So there I am, 12 or so, watching Shelly, and she's holding court - truly, she's the Queen and the audience are her subjects. And she's doing what older actors and directors do: complain about movies today. She's ranting on and on and she finishes one of her long-winded complaints with, "What people want is Shakespeare and instead, they get Star Wars." And when she said Star Wars, she flicked her hand dismissively.

I. Was. Pissed. That was it for Shelly Winters. If one of her movies came on, I turned it off. If she came on Johnny Carson, I walked out of the room. How DARE she dismiss a film that had taken all that I loved from Greek and Roman and Arthurian mythology and PUT IT IN SPACE?!? How DARE she dismiss a movie that had Princess Leia, a strong, sassy, smart character that was the LEADER of all the men in the movie? How DARE she dismiss a movie that had been my refuge from a dysfunctional family and a neighborhood full of bullies?

Spoiler alert: I ended up forgiving Shelly Winters.

First of all, it's not like all of Shelly's movies are high art - she was in a freakin' Chuck Norris movie, among others... I'm sure she conveniently forgot that, as most ar-teeeests do, during her rants against movies "today." And secondly, she's like so many people around me right now, running down what's popular in movies or in music while romanticizing movies and music from their day as somehow all SO much better and glorious - a mythology they have created about movies and music when they were younger that I find incredibly amusing.

Now, Martin Scorsese, he of the I'm-going-to-make-yet-ANOTHER-violent-movie-with-Al-Pacino-and/or-Robert De Niro, and Francis Ford Coppola, he of haven't-had-an-acclaimed-film-in-25-years fame, have said they don't like the Marvel movies.

So... I have to confess that I'm not a big fan of either of them, not as much as most other movie lovers. I find the hyper Western toxic masculinity of their movies - and their fans - terribly disturbing at times. And I think some of their films have NOT held up well over time and look really dated and unimaginative and utterly ego-driven now. Still, yes, they have been brilliant filmmakers and have fostered a lot of talent.

Their comments immediately reminded me of Shelly Winters way back when. Part of me wants to dismiss them, even get mad at them: how pathetic to see artists well past their prime lash out at what's popular now. Next up: Get off my lawn! I love the Marvel movies, I love how the filmmakers have brought out both the epic and the vulnerable and the short-comings in supposed "superheroes"  and how they have both paid tribute to the original comic book stories and legends while also making movies that offer some startling parallels to our world right now. I love how complex the stories are and how online debates break out about the moral choices the characters make.

But, honestly, mostly I'm just going to roll my eyes, stay off their lawn, and keep loving what I love. If you don't get it, that's fine - your loss. I think Dirty Dancing is one of the dumbest fucking movies ever made, but if it floats your boat, you just keep right on watchin' every time it's shown on TV... over and over and over...

New address: Parallel Oregon

There's no unique Oregon "culture" or "character" - not that I have found, can see or feel. There's no running, dominant theme through the state's population, other than being hostile to perceived outsiders. There's no "Oregon music," in terms of its own genre, and not even Oregon "cuisine." There's no Oregon style of housing, no Oregon style of gardening, no Oregon style of politics. I can define most of these for Vermont, every state of the South, Texas, Wyoming, California... but not Oregon.

So I have chosen to live in Parallel Oregon. It's a real place - you just have to know about it.

I was going to call it Alt-Oregon, since I listen to Alt-Country. But the Alt-Right highjacked the Alt term to mean something negative. So, Parallel Oregon it is.

Parallel Oregon has a flavor. It has a collective character. It's welcoming. It inspires people to write songs about it, the way they do about other states.

The people here in Parallel Oregon - and there aren't many of us - love that Oregon has so many different ecosystems and landscapes - ocean, mountains, deserts, plains and river valleys. Unlike the Other Oregon, the people of Parallel Oregon get emotional looking at the loveliness of Mount Hood or Crater Laker or Sisters or the Steens Mountain or the Alvord Desert or the Painted Hills or Tillamook Forest, the way people back East do when they look at the Mississippi or the Red River Valley or whatever, so emotional that they write songs about them that become nationally famous and standards in the American Songbook.

There are historic grange halls throughout Oregon, and here in Parallel Oregon, there are plans to use them at least every month for a community dance. The more remote ones host some kind of camping-related event at least once a month in good weather, like a gathering of motorcycle riders or folk music-makers. They also host some kind of annual celebration for local food - a strawberry festival, a marionberry festival, an elk meat festival... There's at least a few weddings there every year as well. Local people are happy to pay the taxes necessary for the upkeep of their local, historic grange hall.

Here in Parallel Oregon, when we go hiking or bicycling or touring on a motorcycle, and we meet other people doing those things, we greet each other warmly, as fellow residents of Parallel Oregon or just appreciative tourists visiting such. We're happy to see others also enjoying the natural beauty and backroads and bi-ways of this amazing place. We don't care if you've been here a day or all your life - all we care is that you are enjoying and respecting the landscape.

Unlike the Other Oregon, the people of Parallel Oregon understand that we co-exist with bears, cougars, wolves and coyotes, and know that, without those animals, we're a poorer state that would be far less interesting, in addition to being overrun with rats and mice. We know that ranchers lose far, far more animals to disease than predators.

Here in Parallel Oregon, we love bicyclists and pedestrians. We stop at intersections to let pedestrians cross - it's not only the law in other Other Oregon, the one most people live in, it's also the law in Parallel Oregon, but here, we follow that law. We know that roads are meant for EVERYONE, including people on bicycles and in cars, and maybe even pedestrians if there is no other place to walk.

Us folks here in Parallel Oregon, we're sad that Oregon doesn't have its own musical traditions like Kentucky or Texas or St. Louis or Bakersfield or Detroit, but we make up for it by just loving absolutely everything, from blues to country to jazz to hip hop to Ukrainian folk music to Japanese Taiko and absolutely everything in between.

Us folks here in Parallel Oregon, we'rel also sad that Oregon doesn't have its own culinary traditions like any of those places either, so, again, we make up for it by loving absolutely everything. We just hope that someone will start making decent Mexican food here, on the same level of quality as what can easily be found in Austin, Texas or San Francisco.

Here in Parallel Oregon, we know at least a bit of the local history, including the industries that have gone or are dying and how that has affected local people and economies. We often don't want those industries back at full throttle, because of the environmental degradation they caused, but we also appreciate that so much of the infrastructure and quality of life we enjoy was funded by those industries once upon a time, and we honor the people who worked so hard to support their families working in such.

Parallel Oregon is place where people love the diversity of the land and welcome the diversity of the people. It's a place where people see and appreciate the original settlers of this land and the immigrants who came after them and the good things from the past, but also where we fully acknowledge the very negative, horrible things of the past. We don't romanticize the time when everyone in a neighborhood was the same culture and religion and newcomers were unwelcomed - even run out.

In Parallel Oregon, we know that around 80 tribes or bands were living in the area before the establishment of European pioneer settlements, and we know that members of these bands are still here. We know that even before the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II in Oregon, the state's Alien Property Act of 1923 prohibited Japanese-Americans from owning property in Oregon and that Oregon supported the Chinese Exclusion Act, resulting in a very low percentage of Oregonians of Asian descent, especially in comparison to so many cities in California. The 1910 Oregon Census said that no Mexicans or Latinos lived in Oregon, which probably wasn't true. We know that the population crept up over the years because of agriculture, but during the 1950s, Operation Wetback, a military operation, rounded up a million undocumented Mexicans for deportation throughout the USA, including Oregon. We know that by the beginning of the 1980s, Latinos made up about 2.5 percent of the Oregon population, or 65,000 people, but that number is now easily over half a million. We know that, in 2013, only 2 percent of the Oregon population were black, and that the early white Oregonians were anti-slave - not anti-slavery - and also anti-black people. Oregon laws prohibited "any negro or mulatto to enter into, or reside” in Oregon. Oregon was the only free state admitted to the Union with an exclusion clause in its constitution. Oregon also embraced the Ku Klux Klan: racism, religious bigotry and anti-immigrant sentiments were deeply entrenched in Oregon laws, culture, and social life, so the Klan had fertile ground to grow. In 1922, Klansmen won election to local and county offices throughout Oregon, and some Klansmen won seats in the state legislature, and the Klan helped elect LaGrande Democrat Walter M. Pierce as governor. In 1923, Oregon passed a law prohibiting public school teachers from wearing religious garb, in order to prevent Catholic nuns from being teachers (for more information on this very dark side of Oregon, see the Oregon Encyclopedia).

Here in Parallel Oregon, we find the lack of ethnic diversity in the state is jarring. In 1970, the census put it Oregon's population at 97.2% white. In 2010, the census said it was 83.6%. We welcome that changing much more!

We're intensely curious here in Parallel Oregon. We flock to events celebrating or exploring science - biodiversity, astronomy, public health, whatever. A science-based lecture at the local library results in a full house every time.

We're also intensely into sports here in Parallel Oregon. We love the local high school girls volleyball team and the Portland Timbers and some college or university basketball team in the state with equal passion, and even those who don't follow teams know when any of these teams are, or aren't, in championship games. It is a unifying thing, something that brings communities and even the entire state together.

Here in Parallel Oregon, we say "Good morning" to each other. Or "Good evening" It might not be said with a smile or much enthusiasm, but it IS said, with respect. We open doors for each other. We know our neighbors on sight, and at least nod to each other. We'll help someone on mass transit who is lost or having some problems getting somewhere. We know we live in the company of each other, and even if we don't all like each other, even if we'd rather be alone, we acknowledge the right of each other to be here.

Here in Parallel Oregon, we like when someone under 60 runs for political office. We encourage them. We celebrate them - or, at least, don't put them down merely for daring to try to be a leader. And we don't make fun of people who try to be leaders in community groups - we appreciate that they want to step up and do the work, even if we disagree with some of their views.

Here in Parallel Oregon, we don't shame people for what they choose to eat. If someone eats a frozen pizza, or treats the kids to McDonald's, or cooks a meal entirely out of canned foods, we don't turn up our noses and say passive-aggressive things meant to make that person feel horrible about their food choices. We don't shame people for not recycling to the degree that we might be doing.

Here in Parallel Oregon, we love wide open spaces, but we also understand that the Earth can't sustain every person, even every family, living in a single-family home with a yard. When we see an apartment building being built, we don't get angry: we know that many people prefer to live in such spaces, we know that it's better for the environment when people live in such spaces, and we welcome apartment dwellers as people who will patronize our local businesses - even work for such - and participate in our local community events and processes.

When we see homeless people in Oregon, or people who are facing drug abuse issues, we explore why these people are in these situations and what can be done to change those situations, including changing laws and better-funding for programs meant to help them - we don't say, "Why don't the police move them out of here?" and we don't start a canned-food drive thinking that occasional charity will take care of the issue. We know that temporary shelters, food boxes, free socks and public shower spaces help just for a few hours - they don't address homelessness.

The schools in Parallel Oregon welcome all community members as volunteers and event attendees - not just parents. They don't think it's strange that someone without children wants to volunteer at the school, and they use languages and policies that welcome everyone.

Police and fire departments in Parallel Oregon aren't semi-military institutions.

Gun owners in Parallel Oregon NEVER shoot at a sign, and if they are in the presence of someone that does this, they utterly humiliate the person immediately, even if it's a brother or a best friend, and they berate the person so thoroughly that that person never does it again. Gun owners in Parallel Oregon welcome their guns being as licensed and regulated as cars.

There are efforts in Parallel Oregon to create wilderness hostels along long-distance hike and bike trails. And local nonprofit or government-supported community radio staitons, to ensure local news reaches the largest percentage of the population possible, and to broadcast local sporting events and lectures at the local library - churches can pay a small fee to broadcast their weekly services.

Here in Parallel Oregon, much like the Other Oregon, jeans can be formal wear and untucked shirts are acceptable and flowy hippy dresses are good for anywhere.

And newcomers and visitors are welcomed.

More about my travels

Also: Oregon called & said "No, thanks."

What I've learned from watching Judge Judy

The same cases come up over and over on Judge Judy. Day after day, month after month, year after year.

Here are 17 things I’ve learned from watching Judge Judy, and if more people knew them, the show might have to go off the air because the number of cases would plummet. And if you are going on Judge Judy, or going before any judge, knowing these things could help you win your case:

1. You may not withhold rent because of lack of plumbing, your stove doesn't work, there are bugs, etc. and think you won't have to pay that money ever. If you live in an apartment, you have to pay rent. If you pay rent for an entire month and move early because of severe issues, you can sue for the return of your rent - though you may not be successful. It's the "steak" rule - if you take one or two bites of the steak and don't like it, you can send it back and won't be asked to pay for it. But if you eat the steak and then complain, tough luck.
   
   
2. Cleaning a house is not the same as paying rent, making a car payment or making a payment on a loan, nor is babysitting for free, cooking, picking up dinner out, fixing a car or doing yard work. Unless you have a written agreement saying that you can do these things and get a break on rent, or not pay rent at all, or in lieu of making a payment, none of this work can be considered as a substitution.
   
   
3. When you lend money to someone who already owes you money from another loan, and then you try to sue them for all those loans, the court may determine that you had no expectation of repayment. If you keep lending someone money and they don't pay you back, it will be very difficult to successfully sue for that money without a written agreement, signed by the borrower, saying he or she will pay you back.
   
   
4. If you are going to loan a big amount of cash for anyone, no matter your relationship with them (girlfriend, boyfriend, daughter, son, parent, grandchild) - for a car, for tuition, for bail, for a motorcycle, for an entire new wardrobe, etc. - get it in writing that it’s a loan and that the lender agrees to pay you back. This written agreement should also say they will pay you back by a certain date or per a certain event happening, like the settlement of a court case or an inheritance, or that they will pay at least a certain amount every month. The agreement should NOT be that they will pay it back whenever they might be able to. Otherwise, if you try to sue for this money, the court may say these loans were gifts, or say that someone agreeing to pay you back “whenever they might be able to” could be 50 years from now or never.
   
   
5. When you make a payment to someone, get a receipt or a copy of your canceled check. Do not rely on a bank statement that has money withdrawn from your account. No documentation of providing a payment? Then as far as the court is concerned, there have been no payments.
   
   
6. You will not successfully sue an ex-boyfriend, an ex-girlfriend, an ex-roommate, etc., nor your child, nor your parent, for the meals, grocery, clothes, furniture, dishwater, appliances or other items you have paid for, even gas for their car, because these are interpreted by the courts as gifts.
   
   
7. Never co-sign a car loan. Never co-sign a car loan. Never co-sign a car loan.
   
   
8. Never loan your credit card to anyone. Never loan your credit card to anyone. Never loan your credit card to anyone.
   
   
9. Saying online anywhere that a business didn't give you what you paid them for or that you are dissatisfied with their product or service is perfectly legal IF that business really didn't give you what you paid for or you were dissatisfied. Using insulting descriptions of a business, like saying they are "crooks" or “stupid”, *may* be considered libel. Stick with the facts - they did this, they did not do this, they said this, they did not call me, etc. - don't express opinions or engage in name-calling.
   
   
10. You may be sued if you get a flatmate or housemate removed from your home, even if it's a family member, via a restraining order rather than eviction. If someone lives in your house, even if they stop paying rent, you can’t just pack them up and move them out - you have to go to court for an eviction notice.
    
    
11. Landlords should take photos of an apartment before any tenants move in. Without that, photos showing damage AFTER someone moves in, even after they move out, are meaningless.
    
    
12. You are an idiot if you don’t have home owner’s insurance or renter’s insurance.
    
    
13. Dates are everything. Know the date the loan was discussed, the date the loan was made, the date a person was arrested, the date a car was purchased, the date you moved in, the date he moved out, the date of the dog attack, whatever.
    
    
14. When you are asked, "Do you work," have a definite answer. If you aren't working, be able to say how you support yourself (where the money comes from to pay for your rent, utilities, food, etc.).
    
    
15. Your dog and anything it does is your responsibility. If your bites someone or another dog and your dog is not on a leash or isn’t in your yard or in your house at the time, no matter the circumstances, it’s your responsibility to pay for any damages, like medical bills. No matter how much the other dog was jumping or yapping, no matter how hysterical the person was being, unless the dog was on your property and the person or dog came onto your property uninvited, you are going to have to pay for damages.
    
    
16. If your dog sticks its head through the neighbor’s fence and your neighbor’s dog bites your dog, your neighbor is NOT responsible - your dog went onto someone else’s property.
    
    
17. Dress for her court the way you would dress for a job interview for a high-paying position in a lawyer's office. Don't dress for a glamor photo session or the beach.

Of course, if people did this stuff, the show would be far less entertaining...

"People then didn't know any better"

People then didn't know any better.

I've heard that phrase all-too-often whenever there's talk about the past in the USA and Europe, about the horrific treatment and exclusion of women and ethnic minorities and the participation or inaction of white men - or white society in general - in that oppression. The excuse implies that white people - particularly white men - heard and saw only messages of their supremacy, living in a vacuum that never allowed dissenting voices and so, therefore, they didn't know any better than to be white supremacists, abusers, fascists, whatever. We hear it about our own parents, grandparents and great-grandparents in particular.

For so long, I believed it.

But in the last 10 years, I've read and seen more material from specific times when, supposedly, dissenting voices weren't widely known and alternative viewpoints weren't expressed. As I've read, I've learned that, particularly in the last 250 years, most definitely, people DID know better.

Let's take American slave narratives, for instance: these interviews with formerly enslaved Americans from the 1700s and 1800s are readily and easily available online from a variety of sources - and were widely available in newspapers during those times as well. Take the case of Oney "Ona" Judge, enslaved under George Washington and his wife: with the aid of Philadelphia's free black community, Judge liberated herself in 1796 and lived as a fugitive slave in New Hampshire for the rest of her life. She was twice interviewed by abolitionist newspapers in the mid-1840s. Washington wanted her abducted and brought back to him, but the plan was abandoned when a local official warned that news of an abduction could cause a riot on the docks by supporters of abolition.

So, at a time when people supposedly didn't know any better, Ona was one of many slaves having her story told in publications in the 1700s, and there were so many vocal supporters of abolition that a local official feared that they would RIOT if Ona was abducted and returned to the man who, we've all been told, was the most respected and adored man in our country.

Look at the editorials in newspapers in the 1800s: the evils of slavery are regularly talked about. People were regularly hearing those messages, all over the USA, via newspapers and lectures and pulpits. They either listened to those voices or they deliberately, purposely ignored them.

People then didn't know any better.

I've been told repeatedly that, before the USA got involved officially in World War II, Americans had no idea that Nazis were that bad. I was told the USA government turned away Jewish refugees because Americans just didn't understand what was happening under the Nazis. But one day a few years ago, TCM showed four movies, back to back, all released before 1943 and all strongly stating the horrors of Nazism - and this was before the depth of the Holocaust was widely known. I watched them all and then decided to try to find and watch every English-language anti-fascist movies released before 1943. I'm now up to 14 titles. The first I've found is in 1939. These aren't obscure films: these are mainstream movies that feature the biggest stars of the day, including Edward G. Robinson, George Sanders, Margaret Sullavan, Jimmy Stewart, Joan Bennett, Joel McCrea, Paulette Goddard, Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, of course, Charlie Chaplin. Millions of Americans saw those movies and, therefore, WERE WARNED ABOUT NAZIS.

People then didn't know any better.

The movie Hidden Figures was a revelation for me. This wasn't about just one or two black women working within the space program. This was about a room FULL of black women working out mathematical problems and crunching data for the space program. How many white men saw these black American women working, benefitted from their mathmatical and analytical knowledge and skills, and still joined their local White Citizens League or remained quiet during the Civil Rights movement?

People then didn't know any better.

Recently, a Playboy interview from 1971 with John Wayne resurfaced where Wayne said he believed in white supremacy. It shocked a lot of people, which, in turn, shocked me - I've always known John Wayne was an extreme right-winger, his views were widely reported at the time and have never been a secret. But let's be clear: John Wayne wasn't the way he was because he was born in 1907. He wasn't that way because he was 30 in 1937. He wasn't that way because he was 64 in 1971. He wasn't that way because of when he was born nor because of when or where he lived. He was that way because of the CHOICES HE MADE ABOUT WHAT TO BELIEVE. There were people all around him in the 1930s and 40s and 50s and 60s who didn't think like him and didn't vote like him and were talking about and marching about civil rights. He saw them, he heard them and he CHOSE to oppose them. His racism and sexism didn't come from the time or place he lived in - it came from WHO HE WAS.

And, yet, I heard the excuses. And when I pushed back, I was told, "So, the majority of white people in the early to mid 20th century weren't racist and supportive of racist laws or at the very least complicit in racism through their silence?" That statement implies we should assume that anyone born in certain times was a racist because, you know, People then didn't know any better.

Your birthdate doesn't give you a pass to be a racist nor a misogynist - at least not in the USA. Not now, now 50 years ago, not 100 years ago, not 200 years ago.

And don't even get me started on the fact that Mary Wollstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelly (Frankenstein), wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792, arguing that women are not naturally inferior to men and that both men and women should be treated as rational beings, with equal access to education. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was an immediate success and well received upon its publication, reviewed favorably by the Analytical Review, the General Magazine, the Literary Magazine, New York Magazine and the Monthly Review. And she was NOT the only person saying such in 1792. Or 1892. And don't even get me started on how more feminist archeology is turning common assumptions about who was making tools, who was hunting and who was leading in primitive and ancient societies on its head - those common, sexist assumptions are recent, not thousands of years old.

People then didn't know any better.

Fuck that.

Gilda & the Spanish Civil War

I love that Turner Classic Movies doesn't just show classic old movies. I love the classic old movies, I do. But TCM also shows obscure movies and documentaries that aren't shown on other channels, and I love those too.

Several days ago, they showed Gilda Live, Gilda Radner's Broadway show, filmed in September 1979. It includes most of the characters she made famous on Saturday Night Live: Emily Litella, rocker Candy Slice, Jewish gal of privilege Rhonda Weiss, Judy Miller (the energetic little girl with the big imagination who puts on "The Judy Miller" in her bedroom), and, of course, personal advice expert Roseanne Roseannadanna. It also features Don Novello as Father Guido Sarducci.

I saw this several times back in 1980 or so, when it was shown on one of the movie channels like HBO that, back then, showed movies. I must have seen it a dozen times back then, and I was thrilled that it was still so funny to me now... but maybe only to those that love Gilda Radner like I do and know these characters so well.

Radner was SO talented - the amount of energy she puts into every performance is astounding. She was one of my idols when I was a pre-teen - I wanted to be as funny and talented as her, but I never dared to really go for it the way she did. I always held back. I ended up crying through the last song: "Baby, Kiss Me... With Your Clothes On." It's so sweet. SNL was one of those sanctuary activities when I was a kid, providing a safe space for the madness all around. If it weren't for shows like this and weekends at my grandparents', I wouldn't ever get nostalgic about childhood. I sure miss her.

Several weeks before this, TCM showed, The Spanish Soil, a 1937 documentary/propaganda piece showing the struggle of Spanish Loyalists - also known as Republican - that supported the established government against the rebellion by ultra-right-wing forces led by General Francisco Franco, which was backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The short film was meant not only to show the bravery of the Spanish people, but also to how the Fascist forces were disrupting the simple lives of a small village just trying to irrigate a field. The film was produced by the Contemporary Historians production company, formed by theatrical producer and director Herman Shumlin, writer Lillian Hellman and poet, writer, critic, and satirist Dorothy Parker. The English narration was written by John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway, and originally, the film was narrated by Orson Welles - his narration for this film represents the very first professional film work of Welles, then a theatre and radio celebrity in his early twenties.

I love being able to actually see pre-World War II propaganda, rather than just reading about it. My sympathies have always firmly been with the Spanish Loyalists and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and I admit to finding myself stirred by the passion of the filmmakers to get this message out - though the film isn't so great. Still, wasn't at all wasted time. Learning history never is.

And so, in summary: I love movies.

Rethinking "indigenous" & DNA results

When Ancestry.com said that most of my DNA was a match with the people of Scotland and Ireland, I was thrilled! These are countries I love very much. I love their folk music in particular - yes, even bagpipes. I've spent a few weeks in each place and, in particular, I have loved visiting the megalithic cairns and stone circles of the regions. I don't think these neolithic stone structures are magical, but I do think they are amazing: ancient people trying to figure out the timing of the seasons, trying to predict the weather and, perhaps, harness the power of nature and the stars. I thought, wow, the next time I see those stone circles in Kilmartin, I'm going to relish that my ancestors were involved in building them!

Welp, not so fast. Not only because DNA tests are wildly misinterpreted and inaccurate with regards to what we think they are telling us (more on that later), but also because the people I'm descended from did not build those cairns and stone circles.

It was brown-eyed, brown-haired people with faces that are similar to those in Italy or Tunisia or the Middle East that built the stone monuments you see in Irish tourism ads. The genetic profile of these early Irish settlers indisputably originates in the Middle East. Their closest modern relatives — genetically — are the inhabitants of the Italian island of Sardinia. Nearly all of their tools and implements were made from natural products like stone and wood. They were farmers and they were lactose intolerant - they could not drink milk into adulthood without a lot of indigestive discomfort.

However, their DNA is almost entirely absent from the population of modern Ireland and Scotland - this absence indicates that at some point, these people, these stone circle builders, lost out to a new and very different population. In fact, they disappeared from most of Europe, except for Sardinia. For some reason, the descendants of those early Neolithic farmers were left undisturbed on Sardinia.

The DNA of the people that replaced these stone circle builders, the DNA held by the people we call Irish and Scottish today, appears to have originated in the steppes of what is now Ukraine and southern Russia. These newcomers had lactase persistence - they could drink milk into adulthood (as can I - looooove milk).

The genetic record indicates that the local population of stone circle builders was killed rather than that they integrated with the invaders - that may have been a result of war or a result of diseases brought by the newcomers for which the locals had no natural immunity. We may never know.

Here is the article from PRI that explains more. And here is a BBC article that explains it as well.

I still love those cairns and stone circles of Scotland, Ireland, Northern France and parts of England. I wanted so much to be descended from the creators of those. But I'm not - and neither are most of the people of Scotland and Ireland now.

And that brings me to another point: DNA tests. They are a lot of fun, they are based on science, but they are also subject to human interpretation, and I've been just as guilty of misinterpreting what they say as anyone. DNA tests do NOT tell you where your DNA comes from in the past - the tests tell you where on Earth your DNA is from TODAY.

My DNA results say my closest DNA matches are to the people of Ireland and Scotland NOW - not the people of Neolithic times that built those stone circles.

DNA testing companies chose a small number of people in a region to identify as their baseline genetic markers. That means that if there’s only a small number of, say, Central-Eastern African DNA samples that your DNA has been matched against, it’s less likely you’ll get a strong Central-Eastern African match, even if, in fact, you have ancestors from that region. That means that, in fact, you could be American Indian even if your DNA results don't say so.

And with all that said... I wonder... What is heritage? What is my heritage? What isn't my heritage? Is it only through being a direct descendant of a culture that I get to call that culture "mine", or does that kind of ownership or affiliation come from being brought up in that culture?

I don't know.

Other blogs on heritage, culture and who we think we are:

Ethnic, cultural, gender identity - good luck with your definitions

What does it mean to be "white" in the USA?

What is Southern heritage? What is worth celebrating?

I want a symbol for ALL of the South

I’m from Kentucky. I lived there for the first 22 1/2 years of my life. Kentucky was a slave state that stayed in the Union. Kentucky was the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Kentucky had more union divisions than confederate divisions, but I wonder some times if Kentuckians know this, as they love to talk about - and invent - Southern veterans among their ancestors. With such a mixed history, is Kentucky the South? I think it is. Having traveled extensively all over the USA, Kentucky, in my mind, fits better in the South, culturally speaking, than the midWest. I have always identified as a Southerner.

We don’t need the Confederate flag to represent the South. We never have. It represents only one group of people: white Southerners who believe Southern states had a right to enslave black Africans and their descendants. That is the heritage it represents, period. It's a hurtful symbol not only for black Americans, but for white Americans, like me, who find it a painful reminder of inhumanity that permeated the region I call my home. It represents the worst that white Southerners can be. To see it flown outside state legislatures, to see it a part of state's flags now, is disgusting.

There are so many better representatives of the South: our food, our music, our literature, our friendliness and kindness, our diversity, and on and on. People descended from African slaves are an integral part of the vibrant soul of the South, of the overall culture I love. I love it all. I love the South. And I think the South deserves its own symbol - because we are special, we are unique - but one that represents ALL people in the South and what’s best about us - all of us.

That’s a flag I’ll proudly fly.

I've also traveled all over the world, and it's disturbing to see the Confederate battle flag so popular in so many countries. I've seen it in parades, and sold in gift shops on hats. I've asked people if they know what it means. Some have no idea, and some say they think it means rebellion. But I've no doubt some of them know it's a symbol of oppression against black Americans - and that it's their legal way, in their countries, of expressing "white pride."

The battle over this flag and what it represents has to go worldwide. And we've also got to let people worldwide know the beautiful land and culture that is the South - they really have no idea.

Someone commented on a similar rant, "Are we going to eridacate[sic] the entire Civil War from our history also"? No. Just as Germany doesn't fly the flag that flew over its country and soldiers during World War II, but still remembers and acknowledges that war.

Also see: The meaning of the Confederate flag is best discerned in the words of those who bore it.

One more thing: the majority of Confederate states had armed military divisions fighting for the North. Yes, you read that right: people from each of nine Southern states banded together, under their Southern state identity, formed a military division, and fought for the Union during the Civil War. Only two non-Confederate states, California and West Virginia, had divisions fighting for the South (Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland, which also had at least one armed military division that fought for the South, each had rebellion groups that claimed to be a part of the Confederate government, and these were recognized by the Confederacy). So if you think the South has always been a unified in its hatred of Abraham Lincoln and the North, you would be wrong.

Lovin' the Bard

It was 1981 or 1982. I was in the 9th grade, in a public school in Henderson County, Kentucky. I was in an English class. It wasn't an advanced English class, nor an honors English class. Just the normal, regular 9th grade English class. And our ordinary, normal, not-advanced public school teacher had us read and study Romeo and Juliet.

There we were, reading aloud in our thick Kentucky accents, sometimes struggling over words, sometimes laughing over phrases (especially the sexual ones). We read the play aloud, we read the play on our own, and we watched a slide show, an abbreviated version of the Zeffirelli masterpiece, accompanied by portions of audio from the film (I guess our school couldn't afford the rights to show the movie). The teacher asked us what was meant by this or that paragraph, why a character did this or that, what another character was feeling, and how we felt about what was happening.

And we got it. We understood the play, every bit of it. We understood that these were young people every bit as thoughtless and passionate as us. We understood that these were adults every bit as stubborn and closed-minded as many adults we knew. We understood that it was a tragedy, not something to aspire to. We understood the intensity, we understood the sorrow. The play was completely accessible. The teacher fully expected us to get it, and we got it.

Around the same time, I saw Twelfth Night at the University of Evansville. I admit that I didn't understand everything: I didn't get all of what was going on among Viola, Olivia, the Duke and Sebastian, but I most certainly got the set up and fall of Malvolio - and, oh, how I laughed. And laughed. And walked around for weeks saying, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." (emphasis from the actor from that production, complete with rolling "R"s).

In the 10th grade, my English class - still not an honors class, and also in public school - read and studied Julius Caesar. And, again, we go it. We understood what was going on. We understood the conniving and the politics and the egos. Same for in the 11th grade, when we read and studied Macbeth.

I went on to read Hamlet in college, and to see, and thoroughly enjoy, probably a dozen productions of various Shakespeare plays over the years. Most productions were great. Some were mediocre. But all were completely accessible to me and everyone else watching.

I bring this up because Ralph Fiennes is running around the talk show circuit (and he can feel free to run around here any time) talking about his latest movie, Coriolanus, and the interviewers keep saying things like, "Wow, it's so accessible. I didn't think I would understand Shakespeare. Most people don't get Shakespeare."

Most people do get Shakespeare. It's why his plays have lasted this long. It's why they keep getting performed on stage and keep getting filmed. The real issue: most people don't ever see a Shakespeare production. More and more schools have to teach kids to take tests, more and more English classes aren't talking about Shakespeare anymore, except in passing. Most people don't go see a Shakespeare production because they have heard, again and again, Shakespeare is so hard to understand - from people who have never seen Shakespeare.

And THAT is a tragedy, every bit as anything Shakespeare wrote.

I not only enjoyed those early readings and study of Shakespeare; reading and studying the Bard also taught me quite a lot. In addition to greatly enhancing my vocabulary, reading and listening to Shakespeare has taught me how to concentrate on phrasing, how to read subtext, how word choice can affect understanding, how complicated humans are (just like all humans now), and how so many human activities and feelings are universal. All of those lessons have helped me throughout my life, at home and at work. How many times have I had to quickly adapt to the language and phrasing of some new industry I'm finding myself working in? And I didn't see or experience anything in Afghanistan I couldn't also find in Shakespeare, and that's probably why I was able to find a way to process the tragedies all around me there - and everywhere else.

Last week, I read A Midsummer Night's Dream. Now, I'm reading Twelfth Night. I read every word, and often re-read sentences. Is it an easy read? What is an easy read? No, I don't get a passage at a glance - I have to actually read everything. But do I get it? Do I understand what's happening? Do the jokes make me laugh? Sure! This public-school-educated, public university-educated, non-English major gets it just fine.

What's next? I'm not sure. Maybe something I've never seen a production of but always wanted to, like King Lear. Maybe something I've seen many productions of, like Tempest.

But I'm lovin' the Bard. I wish more people would give him a chance.