“At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined… could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make […]
On Political Correctness
A recent letter to the editor in The Nugget Newspaper, which I edit and where Craig has a column, defended “political correctness” as “basically another term for respect, consideration, kindness, and generosity towards others despite their race, ethnicity, gender, or disability.” This definition elides the modern origins of the term, which lie in totalitarian attempts to own […]
Continuity & Persistence
“Beowulf lying wrapped in a blanket among his platoon of drunken thanes in the Gothland billet; Judith going for a promenade to Holofernes’s staff tent; and Brunaburgh with its bayonet‐and‐cosh fight — all of this came closer to most of us than the drawing room and deer‐park atmosphere of the eighteenth century.” — Robert Graves, Goodbye To […]
Calling Interference
It must seem like a pretty good joke in the labyrinthine halls of the Kremlin: the Americans in a giant, going‐on‐two‐years twist about Russian interference in the 2016 election. We ought to recognize it when we see it. The Russians understand — better than 99 percent of Americans — that the USA is the world champion of […]
Sinners & Cynics
“How is it,” asks my interlocutor, “that you immerse yourself in all of this dark history, and yet you don’t seem cynical?” Well, that’s a fair question. I’m tempted to simply throw down another Edward Abbey quote and let it go at that: “Don’t let yourself become cynical. Cynicism is a cheap emotion, a craven substitute for thought […]
Busting Out Of The Binary Box
After a quarter‐century as an Oregonian, I finally experienced one of the state’s iconic events. My daughter and I attended the Oregon Country Fair. This countercultural extravaganza on six acres of oaks along the Long Tom River west of Eugene has been encouraging thousands to let their freak flag fly since 1969. There are multitudes of angles to […]
Blues For America
My hometown is fixin’ to get the blues in a big way the first weekend of August. A couple of music‐lovin’, cable‐stringin,’ hammer swingers are making it happen out of their own passion and pocket. I love that. I love it in the abstract, and I love it because it’s the same damn‐fool thing I and a few other people did […]
Going Deep And Weird In The Post‐Industrial Forest
The following is a guest post by Rob L. Thornton North Idaho is a weird place, and the deeper you go the weirder it gets. I spent a week this past June going deep and weird, the end result of about six months of research into the history of our logging industry back in the early 1900s. I’ve […]
The Bulldozer And The Tree
I used to play in the orange groves Till they bulldozed all the trees Then I’d stand among those dead stumps And smell the blossoms on the breeze… — Dave Alvin, “Dry River”* * I don’t know why I like to drive ’em like I do You know it ain’t nothin’ but A hundred and seventy‐five thousand […]
Called By No Name
Is this the best way we can grow our big orchards? Is this the best way we can grow our good fruit? To fall like dry leaves to rot on my topsoil And be called by no name except “deportees”? — Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos) by Woody Guthrie “You think […]
Practicing History (And Sex Magick)
My brain tends to behave like a .22 bullet: Thoughts ricochet around and wind up in weird places where they shouldn’t be. You’ve heard the stories: Guy gets shot in the right ankle and that little 40‐grain pill bounces around and pops out his left eyeball; that’s how it works. This is NOT a systematic or […]
Wrestling With Rhodes — Part IV — The Long Reach Of The Secret Elite
Cecil Rhodes dreamed the Secret Society — Alfred Milner gave it life. A journalist and then a colonial administrator, Milner was the perfect man to take up leadership of Rhodes’ Secret Society, for he was as ardent a “British Race patriot” as Rhodes himself, and considerably more capable when it came to pulling political strings. He […]
