Trust me -- I should have had more coffee this morning before I decided WHICH recent blog post I would read to Writers Group in Puerto Vallarta, this morning!!!
More at >> Vintage Life
And score ANOTHER FOR ANDREA!!!:
Anti-pervert hairy stockings. These are 'leggings' with hair on them to prevent men from looking at ladies' legs. Hmmmmm.....
>>> THE FUNNIEST PART IS THAT IT STARTED DIFFERENTLY:
1. First, I had no idea Wilmington is celebrating 275 years -- exactly today!!! I only read that AFTER returning from reading and lunch.
2. When I first got up this morning, I thought my letter to Frank Roberts of Wilmington (the last posting), was one of my most important postings because in our conversation, he, a Republican, and me a Progressive, unaligned by Party, but nearly always voting Democratic, have found mutual respect, common concerns, and HE is DOING SOMETHING PRACTICAL ABOUT IT.
You CAN'T beat that in MY book -- because the thing we need most is to talk with those we disagree with to find what we can agree to DO to make things better.
Mr. Frank Roberts can now march to the HEAD OF MY CLASS!!!
But when I went to take a look to see if it would be understandable to a general audience -- or need a lot of modification before reading -- I considered that my CONFRONTING the murderer, John Uecker of the GREATEST English language playwright since William Shakespeare, more politically apropos to current events, so seeing that it (without the posted photos and razzmatazz associated with them), could be read without much modification, did that minimally, printed it, then read it today.
3. Well Fearless Leader Colin arrived LATE after I had begun -- making excuses about PBS (the American "Public Broadcast System"), interviewing him, which I could NOT get him to elaborate on later. Colin's career was in BBC broadcasting -- mostly radio, and in Africa -- except for a series of six programs on a Walking Tour of London for BBC TV (which he still gets royalties from so it must be good), and stint in south Florida (HUGE seat of "Kenan Family Activity"), for an American network, maybe eight or ten years ago.
And I read my piece with emotional power, subjecting myself to questions and comments later. It is with absolute confidence that Candace will never find this (or much anything else), on the internet, so her comments as if she knew NOTHING about my having written a book about Tennessee Williams (which I have been telling her about since 2010 when I helped clean up her Windows 95 (sic) computer and spent much time at her mother's, Silver's, house where she then lived -- she STILL recommends each time I see her that I should WRITE a book about Tennessee), were again annoying -- to say nothing of her confidence in Tennessee dying from choking on a bottle cap. I should have been prepared.
You see, I always think our college-educated and mostly "with it" group of writers are fairly caught up on news, but I often find I am sadly mistaken. I forget that while I had no choice but to flee the USA or be killed, they all came VOLUNTARILY, and you might say it was to AVOID helping fix the USA -- so in that sense they are all NATURAL TRAITORS.
But I also have to consider that many of them exhausted themselves trying to correct things in the USA (or perhaps elsewhere) -- and approaching the twilight of their lives, decided to spend it where they could ENJOY THEMSELVES away from all the BS and religious claptrappery so popular in the United States.
And while it is TRUE that many -- possibly most -- in our group know my story -- yes, they have actually LISTENED to me and/or read my blog, some questions and comments were so uninformed that they would need an hour's history lecture before I even explained what they asked -- and THAT drove me RIGHT UP THE WALL, so far and so bad, that the suddenly-late-Christian Saved Frank (the womanizer during?/after? three wives and many interesting money adventures Palm SPRINGS dentist, who espouses many Christian, Republican ways), had the sense to tell me to CUT OUT the loudness and drama -- most appropriately, I might add.
I really WAS out of sorts and it was due to my not expecting my audience to be so "common American". Afterward, "Our Beloved" Ginger perfectly helped me sort it out (with only a little less interpretive dancing than this):
The most important thing Ginger had observed, was that I had started off, immediately going "post modern" (a term I'm familiar with, but I'm not really "a labeling guy", as they say, so never thought of ANY of this), by accusing John Uecker of murdering Tennessee Williams -- but NOT making him a villain -- in fact my take on Tennessee's death has NO real heroes or villains (not counting the Episcopal Church, Sewanee, the CIA, and Republican Party), since Tennessee was SO deteriorated, it would have been a mercy killing.
And then there was my ANGER -- not over what's happened -- or not -- to Uecker, but what has NOT happened to all the others.
Can YOU imagine what it would be like to have my knowledge while the WHOLE WORLD, seemingly, denies the truth and calls you INSANE -- even committing you illegally twice while trying, seriously -- with cops and shrink nurses coming to evaluate you -- at least another SIX TIMES???
But then the FUNNY THING HERE is that I'm in the EXACT SAME BOAT over the murder of Evan Fish (to whose memory this blog has been dedicated for years, now).
Evan is a "small fish" compared to Tennessee Williams -- but his death was actually even more shocking to me than was Tennessee's.
Evan Fish on Wrightsville Beach, NC -- just a month or so before he was murdered by Wilmington cops (more than by the Sheriff's Deputies -- at least THEY didn't shout from the street like the cops did, verified by THREE eyewitnesses, "JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!!!"
In fact, the Wilmington cops LED that chant that they got the crowd to join in on -- and most of the crowd were drug users, (it was about 6:00 AM when he jumped -- after a five-hour negotiation with the Sheriff's negotiator), so if they understood what they were CHEERING FOR, they would have encouraged Evan to jump, anyway.
4. OVERALL, I have to say that there is still much more processing of today's events to happen before I really feel I have fully benefited from the experience, but I have a couple of tangential comments to make, first, before closing:
A. Carlos had a lot to say -- but made little sense to me. And I treated him badly (which I have DELIBERATELY tried to do, since his frequent comments seem unformed and bearing little logic or structure). Today, I realized he is versed well in English vocabulary -- but as CLUELESS how to form English sentences as am I about forming Spanish ones. That's all (probably)!!!
B. On the OPPOSITE side of things, Roseangelica, her parents both from this Mexican state of Jalisco -- but she lived as many years in the USA as in Mexico -- is truly FULLY FLUENT in both languages. She's been often criticized (not openly), as being just a "wannabe Castilian", a woman who grew up sucking the teats of romance novels, and SADLY, a still-practicing Catholic -- although she KNOWS and does not deny all the HIDEOUS crimes of that church, which I share upbringing in.
Really, everyone loves her for her incredible knowledge of SO MANY things, but only TODAY, I learned her daughter attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill -- and I believe her degree is in THEATER ARTS -- AMAZING!!!
Scott (recovering) -- LOL!!!
.
