Listening to the lies coming out of the mouths of windy politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives these days is simply too much. For relief, I need to write of happy memories and some good news of the day or I’ll bust.
by Charlie Leck
Right up front here, let me apologize for all the errors -- typos and grammatical -- that were in yesterday's blog. That's embarrassing! I should have a proof reader. I'll try to be more careful in the future.
Then let me say that I've started an extraordinary book called DEADLY SPIN by Wendell Potter. It is why I am so convinced that the Republicans are currently just acting as factotum lackeys for the health and health insurance industries in their attempt to repeal the health care plan that was passed last year by the Congress. I'll write more about this in the next couple of days, but if you are curious now, listen to this conversation with Mr. Potter in an interview with Kerri Miller.
The photograph above is one of the restored slides I've been telling you about. We were out in the Sierra Mountains of California -- Mammoth Mountains-- west of Reno, Nevada, in 1979. Anne, of all things immaginable, wanted to go to the Bishop Mule Days in the small town of Bishop. We flew to Reno, rented an awfully nice sports car (it was wonderful being young) and took the spectacular drive through the mountains to the small town of Bishop. Driving a daring and breathtaking car through these mountains, as a young man, is really enjoyable. There seem to be mountain lakes everywhere and the small towns through which you pass are precious and filled with small art and craft shops and terrific places to have lunch. I purchased a wonderful photograph during this trip that I've always had hanging in our bedroom area -- and I think of this very nice excursion every time I look at it.
Once we got to Bishop, down in a valley, surrounded by the mountains, I took photographs and Anne had a ball. She's been a mule woman from a time before I met her. She owned, when I came into her life, a wonderful mule named Molly. I'm sure I'll come across photographs of Molly during this slide project and I'll be proud to publish them here. These days, Reba, is Anne's current mule and I have posted photographs of her on this blog in the past.
Probably because of the current Cohen Brothers movie, I've been hearing a lot of raving about True Grit, the novel by Charles Portis, on Minnesota Public Radio lately, so I decided to pick up an audio version of it at the book store. I knew I was to spend a lot of time this week in the car, so it seemed a perfect idea. Turns out it was!
I wrote here some time ago that I had picked up a copy of an old Tom Robbins book at a neighborhood book sale in Minneapolis for a buck or so. I read it months ago but I've never written here about it. Robbins is an extraordinary writer and I think of him as a more fathomable James Joyce.
In that book by Robbins, Switters, the book’s protagonist, commented in the fictional account that he once wrote a long (hours long) essay just on the first sentence from FINNEGANS WAKE. It was months ago that I read that comment, but it’s stuck with me and so, this morning, I pulled down my unread copy of the Joyce book and began…
One could consider it quite mysterious that James Joyce begins the story in the middle of a sentence; that is, unless once knows about Joyce and his idiosyncratic nature. It’s quite characteristic of this “stream of consciousness” writer to do something like this...
“riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”
[James Joyce; Finnegans Wake (opening sentence)
I guess we also need to remember that James Joyce was an Irishman; and that explains a few things as well.
How I remember the pain and agony of getting through ULYSSES – and remembering that causes me not to want to read this book any further than the 18 pages I got through this morning. I’ve a big stack of other books – both fiction and nonfiction – that I want to read through and that I'll enjoy.
In the meantime, though, here are some notes that Switters might have included in his fictional lecture about this opening sentence.
- First, it’s not really an opening sentence at all; for it is a continuation of the very last sentence of the book
- Riverrun could be either a noun and/or a verb phrase
- Adam and Eve is a church, or a Franciscan Abbey, in Dublin
- Is James talking about Adam and Eve’s Church? Or is he referring to Adam and Eve past?
- Commodius vicus of recirculation is an interesting phrase! Remember that a commode, when flushed circulates the water (in a circular fashion) as it disposes of it! Or is he referring to the scholarly notation CV, or curriculum vitae and therefore possibly to “the course of life and/or history?”
So, the mysterious first sentence is no more understandable when it is read as a complete sentence by appending it to the last sentence of the book….
“A way a lone a last a loved a long the / riverrun, past Eve and Adam's, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs."
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Great post, great photos. Thanks for alerting me to your problems in accessing my blog. I think the problem may have been my addiction to making changes. I think I've got it under controlnow. - Tony
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