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Kingfisher Autumn
2002
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"Motorcycles are the vehicle of choice of a select group of hotheaded Liberals and the culturally impoverished." Oh, yeah? Sturgis, USA: Bikers' raunchy rally is closer to the mainstream than you think Sunday, August 25, 2002 . . . On the surface, this rude and raucous biker subculture looks as forbidding and unsavory as it was a quarter-century ago. But the reality is different. Winnebagos and Harleys have crossbred, and the result is something far closer to a mainstream American ethos than one might imagine. Many of the tens of thousands of bikers who roll in here every year arrive in big, expensive recreational vehicles with their motorcycles hitched behind. Many others get their bikes shipped and fly in on commercial airlines dressed in the bland clothing of suburbanites. . . . Of all the places to cut loose at Sturgis, Buffalo Chip Campground offers the purest expression of the libertarian ethic. The deep braying of hollowed-out exhaust pipes slices through the wind as Harley riders roll in from days on the road. They come off South Dakota Route 34 and turn into a vast, rudimentary campground carved out of the prairie, a place that is much more than a spot to pitch a tent... [Owner Rod Woodruff says,] "Some years we'll have people just walk around naked all day long in the campground and, you know, you get used to it and who cares?" he says. "That's what they want to do. When you say libertarian, you know, really, these are freedom-loving people that want to be free to do whatever they want to do, and they're perfectly willing to let other people do what they want to do as long as nobody's stepping on anyone else's toes." An inveterate rebel, Woody is, nevertheless, a fan of Ronald Reagan and a believer in unfettered free enterprise. In this, he has much in common with his customers. Even the most notorious of the bikers have shifted with the times. These days, apart from their homicidal proclivities, the Hells Angels are just a clan of capitalist entrepreneurs. Their leader, Sonny Barger, was here in Sturgis signing his biography and selling his new brand of beer at the Knuckle Saloon while his minions looked for venues to market balloons filled with nitrous oxide. Their big rebellion is avoiding business taxes, which makes them not unlike most major contributors to the Republican Party. If the 2000 presidential election had been held only in the biker community, I have little doubt that sissy Al Gore would have been trounced by party boy George W. Bush. The liberal nanny culture is anathema to the biker world. These are veterans and working men and women who fly the American flag proudly over their tents and from the backs of their bikes. . . . Here's a scary thought for those of you who believe a glass of chardonnay, the latest copy of the Atlantic Monthly and a little Vivaldi on the stereo are the makings of a fine evening: Not only in politics, but also in cultural values, bikers are closer to the U.S. mainstream than you are. In a pop-culture nation where blockbuster movies, prime-time television and teen music are permeated with barnyard sex and bathroom humor, who can say the straight-out raunchiness of Sturgis is countercultural? [more] http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/83476_focus25.shtml Real Battles and Empty
Metaphors
By Susan Sontag
New
York Times . . .This is a phantom war and therefore in need of an anniversary. Such an anniversary serves a number of purposes. It is a day of mourning. It is an affirmation of national solidarity. But of one thing we can be sure. It is not a day of national reflection. Reflection, it has been said, might impair our "moral clarity." It is necessary to be simple, clear, united. Hence, there will be borrowed words, like the Gettysburg Address, from that bygone era when great rhetoric was possible. . . . [more] http://www.globalpolicy.org/wtc/analysis/2002/0910sontag.htm
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What its like to publish a book today. It's not the big ego trip you may think. Emerging authors: Four Seattle-area writers pen new novels Different paths lead to commercial fame Tuesday, September 3, 2002 . . . None had to weather the sort of withering rejections that so many writers must face, from the agents who are not interested in representing their work to the publishers who find their book manuscript, product of so many months of labor, not worth any investment of money. . . . Those often come with the realization that a writer cannot be just a writer anymore, sending books into the world from the solitude of a garret or at least a spare bedroom. A writer these days must be a businessperson, a promoter, an entertainer, an actor. A writer must be willing to hit the road with the "product," become yet another traveling salesperson with a ready smile and something to sell. All these roles do not come naturally to those attracted to a solitary pursuit. . . . . . . But late-night discussions into the wee hours with fellow writers occur far less frequently than worries about balance sheets and contracts and sales, especially in this era of conglomerate publishing. The romance of writing has been ground down by the business of writing . . . [G. M. Ford says:] "You soon discover that publishers are in the money business, not the book business," he emphasizes. "If they make money on you, they will play with you. If they don't, they won't. Personal things have nothing to do with it. I was picturing the Algonquin Round Table, talking about writing over martinis in that New York hotel. Instead, it's all e-mails." "Literary fiction," Ford says with obvious scorn, "is fiction that nobody reads. Commercial fiction means you actually sell books." [more] http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/books/85014_fourwriters03.shtml So, you think the word "like" is an abomination? Read on
This
is, like, way cool. A Temple University linguist says there's a lot to like about
"like," the crutch word of teenagers and the bane of language
purists. Muffy E.A. Siegel, who has published a scholarly study of the
word, says "like" is not mindless filler but can actually
impart meaning. It turns out "like" in its slang form evolved over
centuries, becoming a Beatnik buzzword and catching the attention of
linguists in the mid-1980s after it was popularized by Southern
California "Valley Girls" ("Like, gag me with a
spoon."). The Valley Girl version of "like" is classified by
linguists as a "discourse particle," along with
"um," "well," "oh" and the like. Unlike mere fillers, however, "like" has the ability to
change the meaning of a sentence, according to Siegel's research, which
builds on the findings of at least two other studies of the word. For example, "like" can be a hedge, when the speaker is
not quite sure what he or she is about to say is accurate. (Example:
"He has, like, six sisters.") Siegel and other linguists have identified a variety of other uses
for "like": a substitute for "said"; a way to
introduce an exaggeration ("He's, like, 150 years old."); and,
yes, a filler when the speaker is casting about for just the right
words. "That's the word you use when you can't think of anything else
to say. During a story people use `like' a lot to keep the story going
instead of pausing," said Molly Pardue, 17, a high school senior
from Devon, Pa. "Teachers will stop us and be like, `Do you know
what you just said?'" |
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