One more legend I missed an opportunity to interview.

Rodney, who died at the age of 98, was the sports editor of the communist newspaper, The Daily Worker. He was also a champion in the battle to have Major League Baseball admit African Americans to its ranks. So in a sense, he was probably doubly hated by many good Americans. Add to that the fact that he was a Jew, and you hit the trifecta.

From Richard Goldstein’s obituary in today’s NY Times:

Running a six-day-a-week Daily Worker sports section that he introduced in 1936, more than a decade before Jackie Robinson broke the major league color barrier, Mr. Rodney pressured the baseball commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and the major league club owners to end baseball’s racial barrier.

His columns cited the exploits of stars of the Negro leagues like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson, and he quoted major league players and managers praising the talents of black players to buttress his argument that they offered a vast talent pool. He publicized Communist-led petition drives aimed at ending the majors’ exclusion of blacks.

“Negro soldiers and sailors are among those beloved heroes of the American people who have already died for the preservation of this country and everything this country stands for — yes, including the great game of baseball,” Mr. Rodney wrote in an open letter to Landis published in The Daily Worker in May 1942. “You, the self-proclaimed ‘Czar’ of baseball, are the man responsible for keeping Jim Crow in our National Pastime. You are the one refusing to say the word which would do more to justify baseball’s existence in this year of war than any other single thing.”

In recounting the mounting pressures baseball faced to end its color barrier, Arnold Rampersad wrote in his 1997 biography “Jackie Robinson” that “the most vigorous efforts came from the Communist press.”

In 2003, Temple University press published Press Box Red, a biography about Rodney written by Irwin Silber. (You can read an excerpt via the link.)

Author:

Neufeld, Josh

Title:

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge

Publisher & Date:

Pantheon, 2009

Recommended Age Range:

14 and up

Plot Summary:

A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge introduces readers to seven real-life survivors of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

Reader Appeal:

This graphic novel would appeal to fans of nonfiction, memoir, biography, history and graphic novels such as Persepolis, Maus, The Photographer and Waltz with Bashir.

Literary Merit:

This compelling graphic novel is historically accurate and introduces readers to history, biography, first person narrative and memoir in an innovative way.  The graphic novel is only one piece of this story, as in the afterword, one learns that it was originally published online with links to “podcasts, YouTube videos, archived hurricane tracking reports,” “video and audio interviews with the characters, a Hurricane Katrina resource list, and an active blog,” available at www.smithmag.net/afterthedeluge

Personal Note:

The personal nature of this story really moved me, especially since my first trip to New Orleans was in June 2006, for the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference.  The trip remains one of the most rewarding and humbling experiences of my life.  I was only able to attend the conference and trip through an amazing program – the ALA Spectrum Scholarship.  In an effort to give back, I asked all of my friends from library school who were attending the conference if they wanted to join me in volunteering for a library clean-up project while we were out there.  About ten of us ended up helping to gut the Nora Navra Branch Library so that it could be ready for rehabbing.  The place had not been opened since the flood, so we all had to wear Tyvek suits to help with the gutting. After the gutting, we were given a secret tour of the 9th Ward, much of which was similar to scenes that Neufeld captured in “A.D.”

My father was admitted to Roberts Hospital with pellagra on November 9, 1942 and not discharged until February 5, 1943.  He kept daily notes on his condition and treatment but the only time he permitted himself any observations of the world about him was on Christmas Day.  The following notes are reproduced more or less in full though a few unreadable words and passages have been omitted.  He crams a lot into them.  The one comment I’d add now is that they include the only reference I’ve been able to find to the Alexandra Hospital incident  in any of the notebooks other than the three eyewitness accounts that I suspect were written down near to the end of his captivity.

Xmas 1942

Roberts Hospital, a patient with Pellagra, the B1 vitamin deficiency disease – indulging in too much polished rice to the exclusion of cereals & other good things.  Complicated with Tinea Crucis & tertiary infection of Diphtheria & other odds & ends.

Passed a miserable night, having been tortured by the relays of bed bugs which have their homes in the crevices of the bed & mattress & which I am at present quite powerless to eradicate.  However, managed to get off to sleep during the early morning & slept soundly until about 8.30am when I was awakened by the sound of tea mugs being deposited on the tray. A lovely cup of hot milked & sweetened tea followed (the first “official” one for about 6 months)

Later had breakfast of cornflour porridge (sweetened) followed by Tomato (complete with skins & pips) & a thin slice of tongue (unheard of!).  Also 2 slices of rice bread (4” x 2”) the one with army butter (margarine?) the other with pineapple jam (v. good).  Somebody heard to say “You lucky patients”

At this time Ack Ack Williams Pte. popped in to wish a Merry (if possible) Xmas.  I reiterated that I would not add “many of em.”

Contemplating partaking of a noxious Kum Lan cigarette made of cherry leaves  & costing 15c in the Canteen (a rise of some 500%!) -  product of Godfrey Philips India Ltd. Victory V Cigarettes  (which incredibly depicts a V over the rising sun).

At 9.30 a service started over in the next ward accompanied by a rather unsteady accordion. Starts of with “Come Ye, Come Ye to Bethlehem” (rather impossible in the circumstances).  Preaches something about Peace on earth & goodwill towards men (somewhat ironical) & continues with Lord’s Prayer “Give us this day our daily bread”(!)

Toffees (very sticky but very acceptable) distributed to each man.   Another 2 followed out of the blue given by Red X officer who wished me Merry Xmas.   A second pkt of Victory V cigarettes & biscuits followed.  Scoffed many biscuits & sweets.

Bill Sayer came in later in morning & said what an awful breakfast he had.  Couldn’t eat it.  Mabela (?) was full of maggots, biscuits were made of rice & like leather.  Coco  had no sugar & little milk.  Lent me a novel “The Arches of the Years” by Ethel Boileau (Hutchinson & Co London) which incidentally originally belonged to one Carlyle Morier  a sanitary inspector not residing at the POW camp Changi.

Bill’s visit interrupted by Company Officer & RSM Painter who came to wish me a Merry Christmas, a quick recovery & gave a pkt of 3 Castle’s cigarettes & smoked one each.

“Get ready for the first course”– pea soup, clear (& good) followed by the 2^nd & 3^rd courses.  Tiffin consisted of a slice of pork (tender & thin & easily cut with the spoon) sweet potato & local pumpkin set in thick brown gravy.  Somebody protested that the latter had been made with burnt rice but the server indignantly replied that he could assure him it was not & added that if this f—–g sauce hasn’t got some rum in it I’ve picked a (unreadable).”  This sauce was poured over a goodly block of excellent Christmas pudding.

After some reading of Bill’s book Williams came in said tiffin was lousy.  Consisted of a cup of bully beef 1 ¼ inch square, 2 thin slices from a small beetroot, & split pea soup & no sweet.  His temper was cooled down however by a piece of Christmas pudding given him legally for his ward, a couple of Cheroots for his Wardmaster.  I fed him on toffees & a cigarette.  Left later to attend a concert in his ward.  Talked of field kitchens, roast duck, boiled rice biscuits et. al.

Continued to read ‘The Arches of the Years” with breaks for toffees, biscuits & cigarettes throughout the afternoon.

Tea consisted of milk sweetened tea but with no bread.  Then there was also no Marmite or indeed treatment of any kind (the MO looked in about dinner time).

Dinner consisted of only one dixie, Cornish pastie (m & v in rice pastie) rice, a few long beans & a slice of Yorkshire pudding.  Also a mug of milk sweetened tea.  Took the rice to keep me in trim.

Read Bill’s book till Bill Batty came in.  Brought 2 tangerines (I asked for a couple of mangos for Christmas the last time he visited with no hope of seeing them.  Even now it is doubtful of their origin).  Also a promised book “Days of Our Years” by Pierre Van Paassen (?) (Angus & Robertson Ltd, London, 1940) also some peanuts to eat while we chatted.  Chatted of old times in Malaya, the war & the Alexandra Hospital tragedy & the loss of Arthur Collins & his pal Sidall who I relieved at Tekong.  Later conversation interrupted by Farrant coming in for his daily evening chat.  Conversation soon changed to watches, one Batty gave to F with hand missing.  Belonged to Bill Brandt who capped the lot by also appearing on the scene.  Soon left on pretext of Batty to go to the boreholes.  Farrant remained to eat part of tangerine, peanuts & a cigarette.  Talked of news – advance in Burma, 100 mile road with 50 bridges cutting off water. Later turned to architecture & chances of getting out of here.

After cup of coco made bed!  Later Ack Ack Williams came along & started to tell some jokes but was soon interrupted by McNeil (orderly) who came along with the red hot news that the Russians were moving south along the Polish frontier.  Lights out went soon after.

Book D, 17-18



EXHIBITION – artist: Alexander Kluge, location: MACBA Barcelona, date: 01.03. – 24.03. / current exhibitions at: MACBA, Barcelona, Alexander Kluge, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer, Magnus Wallin. Artistinformation and biography-text from: Alexander Kluge MACBA Barcelona CATEGORY: art, modern art, projects: TEXTPORTRAITS Alexander Kluge, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer. More information about Alexander Kluge Exhibition MACBA Barcelona, Spain.

New entries: actual 0

Joseph Beuys / Portrait (TEXTPORTRAIT).

textportraits by Ralph Ueltzhoeffer.

EXHIBITION – artist: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, location: Kunsthal Rotterdam, date: 18.01. – 07.05. / current exhibitions at: Kunsthal, San Diego, Magnus Wallin, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Artistinformation and biography-text from: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Kunsthal Rotterdam CATEGORY: art, modern art, projects: TEXTPORTRAITS Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer. More information about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Exhibition Kunsthal Rotterdam, Dutch.

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Chelsea Artgallery Tomwell / Portrait (Installation: Missing). Portraitkunst: Sean Connery.

textportraits by Ralph Ueltzhoeffer.

EXHIBITION – artist: Max Klinger, location: Museum der Moderne Salzburg, date: 14.05. – 17.07. / current exhibitions at: Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Max Klinger, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer, Paul Kos. Artistinformation and biography-text from: Max Klinger Museum der Moderne Salzburg CATEGORY: art, modern art, projects: TEXTPORTRAITS Max Klinger, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer. More information about Max Klinger Exhibition Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Projekte im öffentlichen Raum: Sean Connery. (Sean Connery)

New entries: actual 0

Ground Zero, New York / Portrait (TEXTPORTRAIT).

textportraits by Ralph Ueltzhoeffer.

EXHIBITION – artist: Donald Judd, location: Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel, date: 02.10. – 09.01. / current exhibitions at: Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer, Donald Judd. Artistinformation and biography-text from: Donald Judd Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel CATEGORY: art, modern art, projects: Sean Connery, TEXTPORTRAITS Donald Judd, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer. More information about Donald Judd Exhibition Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel, Switzerland.

New entries: actual 0

Textportrait Missing – Ralph Ueltzhoeffer / Portrait (TEXTPORTRAIT).

textportraits by Ralph Ueltzhoeffer.

EXHIBITION – artist: Paul Kos, location: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, date: 05.02. – 02.05. / current exhibitions at: Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Paul Kos, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Artistinformation and biography-text from: Paul Kos Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Portraits Sean Connery (Textportrait Sean Connery) CATEGORY: art, modern art, projects: TEXTPORTRAITS Paul Kos, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer. More information about Paul Kos Exhibition Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, United States.

New entries: actual 0

Andy Warhol / Portrait (TEXTPORTRAIT).

textportraits by Ralph Ueltzhoeffer.

EXHIBITION – artist: Magnus Wallin, location: Hirshhorn Museum Washington, date: 15.12. – 20.05. / current exhibitions at: Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, Magnus Wallin, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer, Hadassah Emmerich. Artistinformation and biography-text from: Magnus Wallin Hirshhorn Museum Washington, Portrait Sean Connery CATEGORY: art, modern art, projects: TEXTPORTRAITS Magnus Wallin, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer. More information about Magnus Wallin Exhibition Hirshhorn Museum Washington, United States.

New entries: actual 0

Barack Obama / Portrait (TEXTPORTRAIT).

textportraits by Ralph Ueltzhoeffer.

EXHIBITION – artist: Hadassah Emmerich, location: Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnheim, date: 16.10. – 05.02. / current exhibitions at: Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnheim, Hadassah Emmerich, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer, Alexander Kluge. Artistinformation and biography-text from: Hadassah Emmerich Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnheim CATEGORY: art, modern art, projects: TEXTPORTRAITS Hadassah Emmerich, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer. More information about Hadassah Emmerich Exhibition Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnheim, Germany.

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New York / Portrait (TEXTPORTRAIT Sean Connery).

textportraits by Ralph Ueltzhoeffer.

I had to make a choice.  My stack of books was already too large.

It was between “You’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe”  by Leslie Sanchez, a discourse on the evolution of women in politics, or “The Pink Lady, The Many Lives of Helen Gahagan Douglas.”

I chose the latter. Who wouldn’t be interested in a person who had many lives?

As it turns out the Gahagan Douglas book drives home the same point as the Sanchez book reportedly does – in all the years that women have been in positions of power, they are still being marginalized, enduring comments about their looks, their wardrobes and their ability to react appropriately in a crisis.

There is another unfortunate political fact of life that also hasn’t changed in the last 60 years.  Dirty politics and smear campaigns did not die with “Tricky Dick”, who in a highly charged 1950 senatorial race ruined the reputation of  this intelligent, principled,  progressive Congresswoman by accusing her of being a Communist sympathizer. She was pink down to her underwear, Nixon claimed, when he tagged her with the unflattering nickname the Pink Lady.

Author Sally Denton, a Guggenheim fellow,  describes Gahagan Douglas as a woman who bucked authority and marched to her own drum, ever since defying her fiery Irish father when he forbade her from becoming an actress.

First a successful actress and then a not-so-successful singer, Gahagan Douglas became involved in politics in the 1930s,  encouraged by her liberal, politically active husband, Melvyn Douglas, and spurred into action by her compassion for the Dust Bowl migrants. She idolized Franklin Roosevelt and gained entry into the political sphere through a close relationship with Eleanor Roosevelt.

This book is an interesting portrait of a composed, independent woman who stayed married to Douglas despite decades of separation following his extramarital affair. Her husband – who outlived her by one year – recalled that his wife could never have enough windows. She loved the light and she WAS the light.

Denton weaves in a lot of other historical information in this book.  After I finished it, I knew a little more about the character of Pat Nixon, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson.  If there was something lacking, I would say that Denton didn’t go into enough detail about the political contributions Gahagan Douglas made during her many years in Congress, other than to say that she was an ardent supporter of New Deal policies.  I would have stayed with this story for another 50 pages or so to learn more about her voting record, which would have helped me form my own opinion about her mark on American history.

As it is, she is described as an honorable naive victim of a corrupt political machine, a person so offended by the stench that she turned her back on seeking elective office ever again.

I just finished reading Wintering: a novel of Sylvia Plath, by Kate Moses. What a great read! Today’s Time Out! topic, being obvious. Today, I write about my hero: Sylvia.

Sylvia was the first of the Literary Mama’s. A genius and forward thinker for her time, she managed to do it all. Here’s a woman who grappled with depression while raising a family, being a wife, and becoming a successful writer.

I’ve always had an interest in Sylvia. But what I learned in reading Wintering has really made me feel even closer to her. Did you know that Sylvia used to go around painting little hearts on her furniture? I still go around doing these things (except, for me, it’s daisies). I thought I was the only one. A woman who wore her heart on her sleeve, she sure was shouting it out to the world: “I just want to be loved!”

The critiques say that Wintering shows what Ted put up with in his marriage to the chronically depressed Sylvia. Phoey! Sure, there are a few moments where she snaps his head off (and didn’t she have the right? The man ran off with an Elizabeth Taylor 3rd marriage plus hussy!) But over all, Wintering depicts Ted as the second fiddle writer and literary figure that he, indeed, was.

I wonder how far Sylvia would have gotten if it hadn’t been for Ted’s affair. I wonder if she would have put out more novels like Bell Jar or more poetry collections. I wonder if she would have eventually taken her work to the silver screen. I wonder if he would have collapsed in jealousy? I like to think he’d beg her to take him back – only to be rebuffed.

Why is it that all the great ones die so young? Or, is it that, in dying young, they force us to look twice at the short-spanned legacies they leave behind? Are we so attention deficited that we can’t focus on a longer lifespan for a Lifetime Achievement Award?

I used to wonder how she could have left her children in that flat, laying on her kitchen floor. What if they had found her? What if they had frozen to death or starved to death? What if her neighbor “friend” hadn’t discovered what she’d done? I used to have a peice of myself that hated her for that: Definitely not Literary Mama style! But, after reading Wintering, I have more sympathy for her plight. The fact was that she was entirely alone in the world during the time leading up to her death.

I plan to be entirely alone tommorrow. I plan to deal with the blows I’ve been facing lately – Cushings, life with an alcoholic, depression, disappointments, etc. – in a way that celebrates me! I wonder if Sylvia had done this from time to time – if, perhaps, her children weren’t so young when Ted left, she would have found enough juice to recharge herself with days like this.

I never knew the woman, yet I feel compelled to take a day trip tomm to her Northhampton residence. It’s not that far of a drive and it might be fun. I could bring my camera and sit and write. I wonder who lives there now? I think I have just enough gas to get away with it too. Maybe I could swing by the butterfly place on my way home. Maybe that’s how I’ll spend my “Me-Day.” Me, and Sylvia. Does it get any better?

I’m off to bed, with, of course, a copy of Ariel…

Goodnight, Sylvia. Sleep well. You are loved and you are missed.

“Poetry is the bloodjet. There is no stopping it.”

December 17, 2009

• I had my sixth shot today. No side effects other than occasional itchy skin. I give another blood test on the 30th of December. Hopefully it will show no copies in my blood.

December 19, 2009

• I attended the 21st annual Oppenheimer Park festival. It was really quite good with plenty for everyone. I managed to get a winter vest, gloves and hats, and a sweater.
• Not doing much on the home front. I am just downloading a bunch of music that I got at the library.

December 22, 2009

• I have been waiting to see if my lawyer is going to contact me or not so that I can make plans to appeal the Conditional Discharge that I again received.

Bah Humbug and Season’s Greetings

Play the following for your enjoyment:

Robert Plant’s “Darkness, Darkness“;  Van Halen’s “Mean Street“; Bad Finger’s “No Matter What“; Simon & Garfunkel’s “I Am A Rock” and John  Lennon’s “Imagine“.

Author: G. K. Chesterton
Publishing Date: 1908
Publisher:
Pages: 128

I’ve read a lot of one-liners from Chesterton and thought this would be a good book to read.  However, I found it hard to follow and a little too philosophical for me.  Maybe part of the reason is he uses current events to illustrate much of his spiritual journey.  I have included what I thought were noteworthy thoughts and quotes…

“The whole secret of mysticism is this: that man can understand everything by the help of what he does not understand.”

“If a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small.”

“The things common to all men are more important than the things peculiar to any men.  Ordinary things are more valuable than extraordinary things: nay, they are more extraordinary.”

“The optimist thought this world as good as it could be, while the pessimist thought it as bad as it could be.”

“Suicide is the opposite of a martyr.  A martyr is a man who cares os much for something outside him, that he forgets his own personal life.  A suicide is a man who cares so little for anything outside him, that he wants to see the last of everything.  One wants something to begin; the other wants everything to end.”

“Christianity was accused, at one and the same time, of being too optimistic about he universe and of being too pessimistic about the world.”

“It is very hard for a man to defend anything of which he is entirely convinced.”

“One can hardly think too little of one’s self. One can hardly think too much of one’s soul.”

“That some dissatisfaction with things as they are is necessary even in order to be satisfied.”

“We have said we must be fond of this world, even in order to change it.  We now add that we must be fond of another world in order to have something to change it to.”

“If you regard Nature as a mother, you discover that she is a step-mother.  The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister.  We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate.”

“Science knows nothing whatever about pre-historic man; for the excellent reason that he is pre-historic.”

“How can we say that the Church wishes to bring us back into the Dark Ages? The Church was the only thing that ever brought us ut of them.”

“The believers in miracles accept them (rightly or wrongly) because they have evidence for them.  the disbelievers in miracles deny them (rightly or wrongly) because they have a doctrine against them.”

I give this book a 3 out of 5.  It’s okay and has a few high points, but it just didn’t move me like I thought it would.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7

Genre: Biography | Drama | Sport
Director: Ron Howard
Imdb (8.0 Rating)

J finally moved out two days before Thanksgiving with the two babies (ages 2 yrs and 3 mos). Last night she called to say that the girl she was staying with kicked her out because they had a fight, so she was in a motel with the babies.  She asked if Donny, the 2-yr-old could stay with us because they only had one bed and A. (youngest baby daddy) was also with them.  We said no. She begged. We said no.  She also announced she was moving to Watertown, NY where we had lived for 12 years. She would be staying with Jessica, who I can’t really stand (some years ago she had been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. This was alleged, but I tend to believe it). I fear for the babies.  J puts having a smoke before a crying baby.  She sits Donny in front of the TV constantly instead of interacting with him. I want to take him.  He would be in a better environment with us. BUT……selfishly……we have newfound freedom and there would be so many things I would have to give up….going to Happy Hour after work, going salsa dancing, going out in general, finding a babysitter for when we’re at work, paying a babysitter, etc.  Then, there is the problem of our son who is 15.  He does shit around the house and he’s failing most of his classes. We want to send him to military school and the cost of that would probably take any “spending” money we have. I don’t think I can save them…

EXHIBITION – artist: Olaf Metzel, location: Kunsthalle Hamburg, date: 22.01. – 23.04. / current exhibitions at: Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Olaf Metzel, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer, Anthony Caro. Artistinformation and biography-text from: Olaf Metzel Kunsthalle Hamburg CATEGORY: art, modern art, projects: TEXTPORTRAITS Olaf Metzel, Ralph Ueltzhoeffer. More information about Olaf Metzel Exhibition Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany.

New entries: actual 0

Joseph Beuys / Portrait (TEXTPORTRAIT).

textportraits by Ralph Ueltzhoeffer.