Berenerchamion's Blue Note

Perspective

2008-11-19T10:39:00.000-08:00

Christian and Muslim Dialogue

by

Varo Borja

The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.
--Malcolm X (1925 - 1965)

The ancient world as well as the modern has witnessed the struggle and strife of two of the most widespread and militantly devout religious groups ever known to man: Christians and Muslims. Christianity is the older of the two, but it has only known world hegemony since the time of Constantine. Islam, a faith that at its very core has been at odds with not only other religions, but with itself, is the younger by about five hundred years. Quite possibly, the dawn of the atomic age has brought about the impetus for Muslims and Christians to finally destroy each other in a great conflagration, or to finally come to terms, each with the other’s differences of opinion and dogma. Three primary differences, or sources of contention exist between these faiths that act as stumbling blocks to peace and reconciliation. History, politics and views on women ensure that the dialogue between Islam and Christianity will be very difficult but absolutely necessary if the world is to truly know the peace of God.

First of all, the history of warfare between both religions is long and arduous. From Abu Bakr to Pope Urban, to the reign of Mohammed II and the fall of Constantinople, Christians and Muslims slaughtered each other for possession of pieces of earth and dry rocks (Gibbon 753). The fall of Constantinople at the hands of Muslims was engineered by the greed of the Greek Christians who inhabited the city, and by the resentment and power motives of Mohammed II, quite possibly one of the most ruthless men who ever lived (Gibbon 752). After building a fortress on the banks of the Bosphorus to control the flow of goods into and out of Constantinople, in other words after sealing the fate of the Greek Christians who lived there, Mohammed II received a startlingly prophetic declaration from the last emperor of the eastern Roman Empire. In his magnum opus, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon relates the emperor’s words:

“Since nether oaths, nor treaty, nor submission can secure peace, pursue,” said he to Mohammed, “your impious warfare. My trust is in God alone: if it should please him to mollify your heart, I shall rejoice in the happy change; if he delivers the city into your hands, I submit without a murmur to His holy will. But until the Judge of the earth shall pronounce between us, it is my duty to live and die in the defense of my people” (Gibbon 753).

This statement of defiance is just one of many made over the almost 1500 years of sporadic warfare between Muslims and Christians. With a long history of hate and misunderstanding such as this, the successful dialogue between Christians and Muslims will surely be difficult to accomplish, but if the lion is to finally lie down with lamb, an understanding must be reached (Isaiah 11:6).

The realm of politics is also a source of contention for the Muslim nations of the Middle East and the Western, predominantly Christian nations. Issues with Israel and arguments over oil reserves promote a climate of strife for these warring factions of differing ideologies. In the United States, opinions as to Western involvement in Middle Eastern affairs are drawn along two distinct lines: the paleoconservative, libertarian, and Leftist groups advocating almost total isolationism from Middle Eastern entanglements, and the neoconservative Right who maintain that Middle Eastern involvement is absolutely necessary and pragmatic (Stephens 25). According to Bret Stephens, author of the article How to Manage Savagery, “the (isolationist) view hardly bears discussion: all mention of Israel aside, access to Middle Eastern energy resources is a vital American interest and will almost certainly remain so for decades” (25). However, even with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq seeming to take an upturn, western political and economic aggrandizement in the Middle East will be difficult, partly because of extremist Muslim hatred for the West, and also because of sectarian strife. According to Bret Stephens, Islamic society usually segments itself into three distinct entities: the middle class, the “anti-modern” element (comprising the various extremists), and poor, rural tribesmen (26). Also according to Mr. Stephens,

so far, many of our democracy-promotion efforts have been aimed at the middle class, the one most familiar to us (but) it is necessary to isolate anti-moderns by creating political alliances between the urban middle class and the tribes (26).

These barriers present political challenges to both sides of the ideological spectrum. For the West, a shift in policy to reflect the sociological dynamic of Islamic culture is in order, and for Muslims, a willingness to put aside both hatred of the Christian infidels, and a deep desire to heal sectarian differences must come to pass. This political reconciliation will certainly be challenging and may take decades, or even centuries to complete, but a willingness to try is vital if the citizens of the earth are to know true harmony.

Lastly, differing views on women present a difficult obstacle for the peace process between Muslims and Christians. The Christian West has witnessed liberation of women on an unprecedented scale in the last century. Women wield more power in the United States and Europe than ever before. The previous presidential race here in the U.S. saw two viable, women contenders for high political office; this feat was unthinkable for Americans less than one hundred years ago. Islamic culture too has undergone some dramatic changes regarding the status of women, with many Middle Eastern females adopting the garb and enlightened familial roles of their Western counterparts. However, there has been a strong backlash in the Middle East against this trend. In her book, Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women, Geraldine Brooks chronicles some of the struggles of Islamic women and their acquiescence to the prescribed, fundamentalist code of dress called hijab (Brooks 8). Ms. Brooks describes a young, Egyptian woman named Sahar, who:

had opted to wear (the hijab) in Egypt’s tormenting heat (therefore) signifying her acceptance of a legal code that valued her testimony at half the worth of a man’s, an inheritance system that allotted her half the legacy of her brother, a future domestic life in which her husband could beat her if she disobeyed, make her share his attentions with three or more wives, divorce her at whim and get absolute custody of her children (Brooks 8).

Certainly mind boggling to Western Christians, and particularly to liberated American women, this ultra-conservative dress code trend and all that it entails has and will create ever more difficult barriers for Christians and Muslims. The hijab is a political tool, a religious phenomenon, and an anachronistic vice to keep women, who traditionally seek peace rather than war, in bondage. This foundational schism between the Muslim Middle East and the Christian West, although not the most blatant of differences, certainly will be problematic for the dialogue between these two cultures, especially as women grow more powerful in nations like America. However, both cultures must strive for equilibrium in their attitudes toward women if peace is to reign in the future.

In conclusion, it is important to remember that, although Christianity, in the present day, seems to favor much more progressive political and gender equality policies in the nations where it is the predominant religion, the searchlight of history does not always cast a favorable glow upon the followers of Jesus. In the eighth century, under the Abbasids, Muslim culture entered its “golden age” and became the flower of the world, while in Christian Europe the Dark Ages clouded the landscape where the mighty Roman Empire once stood (Fisher 408). Perhaps the measuring stick of time in relation to enlightened culture and progressive ideologies need not be a stick at all, but a circle instead. From all evidence, great civilizations only follow linear time to a certain extent—they rise for perhaps a few hundred years and then sink into decline, only to rise again at a later date. Religions seem to follow the same pattern, as they are inextricably woven into the fabric of civilization. Perhaps also the great Islamic faith is undergoing a period of cleansing in the great circle of time, much as the Christian world did during the Dark Ages and later, the Reformation. Finally, couldn’t it come to pass that both Christianity and Islam, the two most populous faiths of the world, could have their next golden ages coincide on the wheel of time, and therefore bring about a better world than we have ever known? Surely through the prayers and service of saints from all faiths,
brought about by a long sought, common goal, the historical, political, and gender related issues of both creeds will no longer be impediments to the power and peace of God’s love.

Virginia's Voice

2008-10-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Virginia and Obama

Varo Borja

An article in the Christian Science Monitor today cried hope for the Democratic presidential bid in the state of Virginia, an otherwise and aforetime staunch bastion of Republican sympathy. According to the article, Mr. Obama stands a good chance of winning Virginia in some polls, but according to one academic mentioned in the article, we are not to count Virginia’s electors before November 4. The article gave two opposing pictures: one of a pseudo-glorious McCain on stage with Hank Williams Jr. at a rally in Richmond. The other snapshot was of Mr. Obama kissing an elderly black lady at a hair salon somewhere in the state. I think this photo comparison does justice to both candidates, especially in regard to the slogans for their respective support centers: McCain’s, “victory centers” and Obama’s, “Campaign for Change” offices. Mr. McCain represents the tired old hegemony of the wealthy, white, landed gentry while Mr. Obama stands for a departure from traditional views and an enfranchisement of little old African American ladies who not only get their hair done on Saturdays, but topple whole socioeconomic structures, as was the case with Rosa Parks in the 1960’s. The state of Virginia has a long history of rebellion; some of the most prominent and levelheaded leaders of the American Revolution and the Civil War hailed from Virginia. Virginia also has a history of economic and racial disparity, coupled with the long arm of the Tidewater Elite and the old planter class. It remains to be seen what direction one of the greatest, and oldest, states in the Union will take on November 4th, but one thing is for certain: the result of Virginia’s vote will most likely determine who will reside on Pennsylvania Avenue in January.

Last Debate

2008-10-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

Last Debate

Varo Borja

The Economist, on October 16, 2008 heralded the last presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain to be the finest so far. I must agree. For the most part, John McCain was on the offensive, jabbing, huffing, snorting, pouting and gouging at Mr. Obama for all he was worth. Mr. McCain knew he was desperate, and according to the polls, he still is. Mr. McCain brought up some valid points, but his body language and mental inferiority to Mr. Obama clouded what could otherwise be seen as a determined effort to close the gap in the polls. Mr. McCain made some very obvious blunders. He dwelt on petty issues, such as Mr. Obama’s association with Bill Ayers, and he seemed to be losing his dwindling acumen for the facts. Mr. McCain even went as far as to say that he would hire troops, just back from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to teach high school students, all without undergoing the process to achieve a teaching license! With all due respect, Mr. McCain is more ready for the rest home than the White House, and I believe that this final debate will seal the victory for Mr. Obama and Joe Biden. Mr. Obama, throughout the debate, kept a cool head and steady pressure on John McCain, who seemed to be on the verge of physical assault upon both the mediator, Bob Schieffer, and Mr. Obama himself. Surely the American public sensed the desperation in Mr. McCain’s tone and body language, and much like the dying gurgle of the annual Thanksgiving turkey, Mr. McCain and Sarah Palin’s chances for a prolongation of the George W. Bush/Dick Cheney legacy have all but given up the ghost in favor of the economic Santa Claus: Barack Obama.

Debt Before Dishonor

2008-10-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

Bailout Plan Passes the Senate

Varo Borja

The Economist, on October 2, 2008 stated that the Wall Street bailout plan proposed by George W. Bush and Henry Paulson has passed the Senate by a large margin. However, the bailout is somewhat revised and includes several “sweetners”, including a raising of the FDIC bar to 250,000 dollars and several giveaways to parties unnamed. My thoughts on this issue are myriad in scope, but my first reaction to this entire crisis is a cry of disbelief at the shamelessness of Wall Street. A legion of robber barons and petty gentry who in aforetimes decried almost as a whole the institution of public welfare and social services in general, now cries for a gargantuan aid package from the Federal government to “sweeten” their demise. What in God’s name is this “bailout” other than corporate welfare—a payoff for failure, greed, and irresponsibility of a magnitude hitherto unknown in the annals of economic history? Meanwhile, residents of ghettos, slums, and tenements across the United States live in such degradation and squalor as to make even the most stolid members of “decent” society cringe in disgust, and John McCain squawks about cutting all “unnecessary” spending. I suppose the good old spirit of greed, profiteering, and what was termed in the Middle Ages as usury will continue as sovereign in the land of the American Dream. Exactly how much wealth does one group of our population need? In Africa and Asia, starving denizens grasp for a bowl of rice and a little rat meat, while the baronial manors of the Hamptons burst at the seams with the amenities of the modern age. How, in God’s name can a generation of thieves and corporate Pilates underwrite their actions with the name of the Son of Man who hung on a tree in the desert, penniless and abandoned by his followers? Exactly what would Jesus do in this situation? Would he cosign this orgy of profiteering and abashed extravagance, or would he cast the money changers from the temple and feed the more than five million poor, hungry residents of America who borrow to the hilt just so they won’t be turned out on the streets? Something must change. Individual liberty relies not on a single document or 700 billion green pieces of paper, but on personal responsibility and justice for the downtrodden and the oppressed. Otherwise, we shall reap the harvest of our actions and fade into oblivion with the rest of the dynasties who turned a deaf ear to suffering and clothed themselves in the purple robes of dishonor.

Obama and the Jewish Vote

2008-10-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Obama and the Jewish Vote

by

Varo Borja

Recently I was perusing an article entitled, “Obama’s Jews” by Bernard Avishai for Harper’s Magazine, and I found it very interesting the shift that has taken place among a large section of the American Jewish population. According to Mr. Avishai, the Jewish American voter was traditionally a Democrat, mainly because of FDR’s opposition to Nazi Germany and then later in the century, because of civil rights. Mr. Avishai goes on to state though, that a large bloc of the Jewish American population didn’t feel well served by the civil rights movement, especially in regards to the empowerment and economic liberation of, as Mr. Avishai says, “black toughs”. It goes without saying that Jewish American voters aren’t thrilled with the likes of Louis Farrahkan and Al Sharpton, and Mr. Avishai goes on to say that American Jews lampooned themselves as, “earning like Episcopalians and voting like Puerto Ricans”. Mr. Avishai notes, however, that the 1968 Israeli war brought about a shift in the Jewish vote to a more conservative stance, progressing even further with the 1973 Israeli/Egyptian war and culminating in the support, by a significant section of the American Jewish population, of Ronald Reagan. Mr. Avishai does note though that there has always been a large section of American Jews loyal to the Democratic party—he also says that neoconservative Zionists in the media and the political arena misrepresent the majority of American Jews. He goes on to state that what the American Jewish population is looking for is a movement, a grand cause, to revive their interest in liberal American politics. Mr. Avishai states, in a matter of fact manner, that Barack Obama can and will provide that impetus. The days of the Paul Wolfowitz’s and the William Kristol’s won’t soon come to an end however, and Mr. Obama will likely be rejected by the majority of Jews over 65, but I am glad to know that the progressive spirit hasn’t left the Jewish community. Even more so I will be glad when the trumpet of Zionism blares its last note. Zionism is one of the major setbacks for the Middle East and especially the Palestinian/Israeli peace movement, and parties such as the Israeli Likud and its malefactors will hopefully tire of their collective psychosis and relent for the good of us all.

No Cash Left Behind

2008-09-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

NCLB: No Cash Left Behind

Varo Borja

I was perusing an article in Harper’s magazine the other day about the implementation of testing preparatory agencies in America’s schools. This article paid particular attention to the Kaplan testing agency, and was written by a current employee of that company. The article stated, in sum, that because of the No Child Left Behind act, test prep agencies are raking in an enormous amount of revenue, especially from Title I schools. Furthermore, the article stated that these test prep agencies don’t show results, other than inflated budgets and downtown Manhattan office suites. The author of the article, Jeremy Miller, also stated that many of the teacher s in the schools that he has worked with are indignant about having to implement curriculum bonuses such as the Kaplan method into their already time constrained schedules. The Kaplan method takes 40 hours of class time to complete, and many schools, once they have failed to meet NCLB criteria, have no choice but to employ agencies such as Kaplan at inflated rates, with little to show for their efforts. Mr. Miller states that the Kaplan company pays him at least 10,000 dollars more a year than the highest paid first year teachers in the nation make, and the total revenue from the Kaplan company, which is a part of the Washington Post group, has exceeded 2 billion dollars for the past fiscal year. Mr. Miller goes on to say that companies such as the Kaplan group focus solely on “correct answers” to tests such as the SAT, and slight or totally ignore education philosophies that focus their efforts on process learning, or to put it mildly, real education. Companies such as Kaplan are bilking the U.S. taxpayer of billions of dollars, and what does the average citizen have to show for it? Nothing other than the discarded Kaplan materials passed out in under-achieving schools that most of the students don’t even bother to read, let alone comprehend. The Kaplan company has been evasive at best when questioned by journalists as to its credibility and viability, but as long as the NCLB act stands, companies such as Kaplan and The Princeton Review (another spurious test prep agency) will continue to prosper, and Title I funds that could be spent on worthwhile programs and teacher salary increases will go down the proverbial toilet along with the future of many underprivileged children.

Parallels

2008-09-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

Beauty and the Beast

by

Varo Borja

I am shocked, nay, astounded at the turn in the polls in the McCain/Palin ticket’s favor. I was reading an article in The Economist today which states:

A post-convention poll shows the two candidates nearly tied in perceptions of who would change Washington. Independents are moving towards Mr McCain despite Mr Obama’s strong advocacy of “change” in his campaign. The “enthusiasm” gap is closing, too: before, many voters told pollsters that they would vote for Mr McCain, but not happily. Now, many more are pleased with their pick. Again, Mrs Palin's elevation has much to do with this. At the Republican convention in St Paul, she generated such enthusiasm that there was jocular talk of flipping the ticket to put her at the top and Mr McCain in the vice-presidential slot.

What in God’s holy name are the American people thinking? The current crisis on Wall Street brings to mind another period in American history that I think should be adequately addressed: The Great Depression. At the time of the crash of 1929, a similar administration to the one currently in residence on Pennsylvania Avenue was in office. That administration, after a large, seething boom and the subsequent crash due to, much like today, easy credit, offered the cheap condolences to the American people that, and I quote, “I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism…I have every confidence that there will be a revival of activity in the spring and that during the coming year the country will make steady progress” (Mitchell 31). That quote was taken from Andrew W. Mellon, then Secretary of the Treasury for the Hoover administration. Another interesting, contemporary quote from a member of the current administration reads thus:

I can count many, many times that people have said that America had lost its competitive edge. We had lost our competitive edge vis-a-vis Japan. We were a power that was over-stretched in the '80s. We were going to converge with the Soviet Union, by the way, in the 1970s. So there have been many premature sentences for America losing its competitive edge. We're going through a difficult time in the economy; adjustments to a number of circumstances, including in the housing markets and in the financial markets, that will work their way out (ontheissues.org).

This quote is all the more interesting in what Ms. Rice doesn’t say. She fails to mention any parallels between the current crisis and that of 1929. What she offers is smoke and mirrors, and the lingering effigy/myth of Ronald Reagan as a sword of truth wielding, Caucasian crusader with the red cross of the Republican templars blazoned upon his breast. Do the American people desire more of the same smoke and mirrors, cross brandishing (and burning), and slick, blindfolded tomfoolery that was offered us by the same party who brought us the Hoover, Bush, and God forbid, McCain/Palin administrations? Will the American people actually take time to digest some information that isn’t brought to them in savvy sound bites, O’Reilly factor diatribes, or “straight talk” ads denouncing the Democratic candidate as a man who would corrupt our kindergartners by bringing them sex education, when in fact Mr. Obama desired to prevent the molestation of children? It is time for the American people to wake up, to rise from their self-indulgent lethargy and assert their right to a better future. It is time for us to denounce the slick maneuverings of those who would hoodoo our country by appealing to our religious leanings, gender preferences, and fears of “axis of evil” terror. For the love of God, we must use reason, instead of emotion to decide who will govern our country for the next four years. If we don’t, then we cast our heritage to the wolves as we pretend, all too innocently, to be sheep led to pasture by a warmonger and a prom queen.

Works Cited

“Condoleeza Rice on Budget and Economy.” Ontheissues.org.

23 May 2008. CNBC. 15 September 2008.

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Condoleezza_Rice_Budget_+_Economy.htm

Mitchell, Broadus. Depression Decade: From New Era Through New Deal.

New York: Rhinehart and Co., 1947.

“The Palin Effect.” The Economist 16 September 2008.

Free Speech and the Sarah Palin Campaign

2008-09-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Free Speech and the Sarah Palin Campaign

by

Varo Borja

Today I was browsing through the Christian Science Monitor and I happened upon an article titled, “Don’t Be Swept Away By Hype in the Palin Campaign”. The author, Jerry Lanson, stated in a nutshell that it was the media’s job to, “unearth facts, not repeat myths.” I found this statement quite interesting with all the media glam surrounding the Republican VP nominee. Every time I’m in the grocery store line I glance at the tabloid headlines and see Sarah Palin’s face emblazoned upon the covers of these rags with sensational text surrounding her either smiling or scowling face. Apparently, the McCain campaign has lashed back at the “liberal media” for its preoccupation with Sarah Palin’s personal life. Good for him. What is not good for him and also for us, as Americans, is Sarah Palin’s record and qualifications. According to the Christian Science Monitor, Sarah Palin, “went to 5 schools in six years before graduating” and has flip flopped on very important issues to not only her state, but by proxy to the American people. Mr. Lanson of the Christian Science Monitor berates mass media for its sensationalist, sexist, and sometimes ignorant coverage of such important events in the history of this nation, and I for one would like to see, as Mr. Lanson says, more “tough (sic and) fair” reporting instead of “balanced” coverage of the presidential election. In this instant, “balance” can translate to a virtual smearing of both parties’ candidates in an attempt to garner sales revenue, instead of covering the tough, but sometimes unpopular issues such as what each candidate has done and most likely will do, if elected. I agree with Mr. Lanson wholeheartedly in that the catchword of the moment, CHANGE, needs not only to come to Washington, but to The Washington Post, The New York Times, People Magazine, and most unlikely, The National Enquirer. Truly enquiring minds want to know facts, not a plethora of should-be’s, could-be’s, and delectable morsels about the irrelevant, private aspects of the lives of public citizens.

Hockey Sticks, Ice Tiaras and Moose Dung

2008-09-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin as choice of Republican Party VP

by

Varo Borja

I was reading an article in The Economist today discussing the merits of John McCain’s choice of running mate, and I found the article to be quite in line with my thoughts on the issue. The article declared that John McCain’s choice was a major blunder, and gave statistics to back it up. According to the article, 31 % of undecided voters are less likely to vote for McCain now than they were a month ago, with only six percent of undecided voters more likely to swing for McCain now that Palin is his VP choice. Sarah Palin is an obnoxious, hockey stick waving, political dilettante who has neither the experience, nor the knowledge to pick up the reins of government should John McCain die an untimely death. McCain’s probability of an early death is quite substantial, even in a four year term, considering the fact that he is 72 years old and not in the best of health. Contrasted with Barack Obama’s choice of running mate, Sarah Palin pales in comparison. On foreign policy, domestic policy, or any other facet of American government, Joe Biden is a much better choice. Quite ironically, inexperience is one of the principle barbs that McCain has thrown at the Obama campaign. That barb is no longer in the Republican’s arsenal. Also, according to The Economist, John McCain is repeating mistakes made by the Bush administration, especially his choice of basing a candidate’s viability upon that candidate’s stand on the Roe v. Wade decision. The Bush administration, according to The Economist, almost without deviation put people in positions of power, regardless of their experience or qualifications, based upon said person’s stance on abortion. The Economist criticizes American politics from both sides of the spectrum based upon this criteria, and seemingly we as Americans remain the laughing stock of Europe because of the extremist views on abortion held in this country. Not only do opinions run to extremes on this issue, but a plurality of American voters are still willing to ignore much more important qualifications of their representatives in favor of said representatives’ respective pro-life or pro-choice positions. I, for one, am quite sick of the whole gambit, and would welcome a return to common sense government and pragmatic economic policies in this country in favor of a woman’s right, or lack thereof, to do whatever she would like with her uterus.

A Few Words

2008-09-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on American Government

by

Varo Borja

The framers of the constitution certainly had their work cut out for them. I’m sure that with all their divisions, self-interested vanity, and the particular regional wants and needs that they brought to the table, there was much to be overcome to agree on a document that would work for the blossoming nation. I’m re-reading “The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin”, and I find his life to be the most fascinating of the founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin led a life devoted to the conquest of the almighty dollar, but he did much to improve himself and his faculties, especially in regards to practical wisdom. Mr. Franklin surely had much to do with the compromises that were reached during the constitutional deliberations, and I’m sure that even though he feared what might befall this nation from the British as well as what might happen because of the immorality of slavery, he valiantly upheld a basic American, if not universal virtue: the art of compromise. Compromise certainly didn’t make Mr. Franklin weak. Nor did it make the founding fathers weaker to put aside their self-interest and aggrandizement in favor of a workable solution. The willow tree is strong because it can bend with the breeze instead of being stiff as iron and breaking with the first gale of summer. This thought brings to mind the many avenues for compromise and diplomacy that we as a nation are faced with today. Should we talk to the Iranians, the Russians, the Venezuelans, and the Cubans, or should we just steel our faces and present an iron fist instead? These seem to be the questions of paramount importance to the American people in making their decisions for a future president. Perhaps we should take a lesson from Mr. Franklin and all men of wisdom and greatness, from Socrates forward, and bend with the breeze if we are to survive the storm.

Obama/Biden

2008-09-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

Obama/Biden

by

Varo Borja

I find Barack Obama’s choice of a vice presidential candidate to be in line with the prevailing opinion that a candidate who is seeking to bring change, not only in the economic and international arenas, but also because of his race, must seek to allay certain fears of the electorate by choosing a man with not only experience, but pale skin. Joe Biden seems to have most of his ducks in a row. He certainly has experience, character, and charisma, but some of the comments he has made concerning Barack may hurt both of them in the long run. Also, Mr. Biden wasn’t too well received in his own bid for the presidency, so it remains to be seen how much he will bolster Barack’s campaign. I think that Barack made a wise choice in not selecting Hillary Clinton. In fact, according to the New York Times last week, he hadn’t ever seriously considered her. Apparently Ms. Clinton went too far in her fight to gain the nomination, and Mr. Obama is still nursing a grudge for her valiant, although somewhat belligerent, fight against him. Foreign policy will certainly play more of a role now that the situation in Georgia is in the forefront, and let us not forget that there are still two wars going on in the Middle East. Gas prices have taken a downturn, possibly with some assistance by certain supporters of the Republican party who would like to see their candidate not get crucified in November. Senator McCain certainly will have difficulties convincing the electorate that he is not bringing to the table more of the same (as the Bush administration), and God forbid that we go to war with Iran. Mr. Obama still has my vote, for the time being, but I would like to see him ramp up his stance on domestic issues and hold a steadier course in the foreign policy arena

To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time

2008-05-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

The Laudian Libertine and the Liber Pater: Christian and Pagan Themes in Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time”

By

Varo Borja

Love seeketh not itself to please,Nor for itself hath any care,But for another gives its ease,And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair. –William Blake

A candle burns long into the night in the English countryside near Devonshire, the chill winds of winter flicker the flame as an aging, defamed and soon-to-be deposed priest pens the last few lines of a mammoth work. Myriad pastoral and priestly scenes are scribbled in the tome over which the priest labors, but the contents of his volume reflect not only the enlightened musings of an Anglican prelate, the poems in his book are full of sylvan scenes where flowers and lovers are found to be as sacred as the communion chalice and the tears of long dead saints. The year is 1647, and the priestly poet is Robert Herrick, author of a work containing more than 1,000 poems. One poem in particular stands out from the rest as the golden apple of Grecian myth stands out from an ordinary orchard. “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” is perhaps the greatest work of the more than a thousand found in Herrick’s volume, Hesperides, published in 1648. “To The Virgins, To Make Much of Time” is the epitome of Herrick’s quest to marry the lore of the pagans to the sacraments of the church. Thomas Whitaker, in his article titled, “Herrick and the Fruits of the Garden” for the Johns Hopkins University Press, explores in depth the relation of ancient myths and Christian themes found in Robert Herrick’s poetry, and refutes the claim made by some scholars that Herrick’s poetry was “trivial.” I will explore the claims made by Whitaker, and by using other scholarly sources as well, attempt to disclose some of the pagan and Christian motifs in “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” and build upon the ethos of Whitaker’s statement that Herrick sought to, “transcend death, and escape from the temporal flux into the eternal realm of art or ceremony” (Whitaker 33).

In the first section of Thomas Whitaker’s article, he enumerates the many themes found in Herrick’s poetry, stating, “This is a realm of nature, ritual, youth, love, perfumes, tran-shifting times, dainty myths, faeries, and religion” (Whitaker 17). “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” displays theses motifs in microcosm, with the first stanza focusing on nature, youth, and love particularly (Lines 1-4). However, as with most of Herrick’s poetry, the underlying root is of a religious nature. The first stanza not only evokes scenes of soon-to-be-wilting rosebuds, but slyly hints at the dual nature of Christ, as both corruptible flesh and eternal spirit. Also, the lines “And this same flower that smiles today / tomorrow will be dying” are references to the life and death of Christ (the Lily of the Valley) on the Cross. According to Orthodox Christian tradition, Jesus of Nazareth lived and died as a virgin, and was plucked from the cruel earth in the hither verge of his ripest maturity. In “Fruits of the Garden,” Thomas Whitaker states, “We see the eternal sickness of the rose that was later to prompt Blake’s cry, the transience of beauty which dies in the very act of smiling” (19). Certainly this first stanza of “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” is more than an admonition to marry; this thinly-veiled exhortation is a call to live in holiness while there is yet time, before the “transience of beauty” which is the world as we know it, passes away in the death before rebirth. Here Herrick is seeking, through clever allusions, to prolong his own youthful nature through association with “wilting rosebuds,” and to seek, as Christ did through adoption, the welfare of not only his young parishioners, but the best good of the universal “youth” of 17th century England. With so many “children” in his flock, Herrick would certainly transcend the confines of mortality and enter into the eternal priesthood of the saints and martyrs through the agent of his poetry.

Herrick continues with his Christian themes in the next stanza when he cries, “The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun / The higher he's a-getting / The sooner will his race be run / And nearer he's to setting” (5-8). Here Herrick is making a reference to the omnipresent and omniscient Father God, who views the world from heaven and is near to completing the current dispensation and the end of Second Age of Man. With the coming of the New Jerusalem and the rapture of the saints, the marriage of Christ and his Bride (the Church) will be complete and the time of earthly marriage will be over (Matthew 22:30). Once again, Herrick seeks, through thinly-veiled imagery, to exalt the Son of Man and God the Father and by art enter into deeper communion with the Triune God; a sort of poetic communion ceremony whereby Herrick escapes the death of the flesh by casting his eyes upon “the glorious lamp of heaven” (5).

In the next stanza of “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time,” Herrick longs once again for youth—not only bodily youth but spiritual youth when he exclaims, “That age is best which is the first / When youth and blood are warmer / But being spent, the worse, and worst / Times still succeed the former” (9-12). As Randall Ingram notes in Studies In English Literature, “His [Herrick’s] poetry must be simultaneously monumental and malleable, stone and living” (Ingram 5). The eternal stone and the malleable branches of childlike faith resound throughout these lines from “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time.” These lines also pay homage to the First Age of Man, the millennia before Christ when men lived by faith in the coming Messiah and his reign of justice. Here Herrick pays homage to the Old Testament saints through allusion to youth; the iconic, virginal state of Israel making preparations, through ages of foolish, yet necessary strivings for the coming of Christ, a time that shall surely, “succeed the former.” Herrick also makes reference to the blood of youth, the blood shed at Calvary that made propitiation for sin and insured eternal life; this blood also is the latter half of the Eucharist, the “former” sacrifice for sin which, portrayed through ceremony and Herrick’s artful verses alike, bequeaths immortality upon the recipient and the artist in transcendent harmony.

In his article, “Fruits of the Garden”, Thomas Whitaker states that Herrick’s poetry is above all “ceremonial” and concerned with images “drawn from nature [that] are delicately symbolic” (17). The natural union between man and woman, God and man, and Christ and God the Father is the underlying religious theme of this poem. The last stanza expresses this topic beautifully when Herrick writes, “Then be not coy, but use your time / And while ye may go marry / For having lost but once your prime / You may for ever tarry” (13-16). In these lines Herrick provides a dual exhortation to unbelievers, both unbelievers in the sacrament of marriage and wayward souls lacking eternal salvation. He adjures them to, “use” their “time” wisely, to accept the gift of marriage both in the physical and the spiritual sense “while ye may”, and not “tarry” until their “prime” is “lost” (13-16). This exhortation mirrors the verse from the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew which states, “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut” (Matthew 25:10). After the wedding invitations have been sent, and the bride and the bridegroom have undertaken the sacrament, the “door [will be] shut” and those who have tarried will be lost forever. Once again, Herrick sets his eyes on the eternal through the medium of the temporal, and seeks through his art to “transcend death” and sit, arrayed in his priestly garb, at the wedding ceremony of the Lamb (Whitaker 33).

Robert Herrick also includes, in true Renaissance fashion, many allusions to pagan myths within his poetry. Herrick is concerned with the natural, and natural man in his pristine, mythologized state was a lover of wine and beauty and a devotee of the English Liber Pater, or Dionysus. Thomas Whitaker states in “Fruits of the Garden” that:

His [Herrick’s] ‘rustic’ religion draws upon classical, Christian, and native English sources; his images drawn from nature are delicately symbolic; and his ‘love’ is often the refined badinage of the Roman and Alexandrine poets (17).

Robert Herrick also lived in a time of religious extremism, particularly concerning the doctrines of John Calvin and the English Puritans. Robert Herrick was an Anglican vicar of the Laudian sect; a theological school that sought, by a type of marriage, to join the physical world (which was heavily denigrated by the Puritans) with the spiritual realm—a philosophy more in line with the prevailing, 17th century Renaissance humanism than with the grim, gaunt and draconian dogma of the Calvinists (Johnson 2). In his article titled, “In Vino—et in Amore—Veritas; Transformational Animation in Herrick’s ‘Sack’ Poems” William C. Johnson states:

For Herrick, Laudian vicar of a tiny village church, Puritan restrictions and social restructuring remained not only intellectually and aesthetically, but morally and theologically, antithetical to his sense of God’s permeating presence in the world (2).

Consequently, Herrick looked to the ancients for wisdom and found it within the pages of sages such as Homer, Euripides, Virgil, and the other multitude of poets, playwrights, and penmen of Greece and Rome. When Herrick speaks of “rosebuds” in the first stanza of his poem, could he not also be referring to the myth of Narcissus by the pool, “tarrying” long in amazement at the reflection of his own beauty, and sacrificing his own mortality, not in dissolution or devil-flame as the Calvinists would prophesy, but in splendid rapture at the sight of his own magnificence? Furthermore, when Herrick speaks in the second stanza of, “the glorious lamp of heaven” running “his race,” he most assuredly refers also to Apollo, son of Zeus, who in Greek mythology drove his glorious, golden chariot across the sky every day to shed light upon the earth (5-7). In the last stanza, Herrick refers to an eternal “tarrying” on the part of those who have either spurned love or have been the victims of fate, such as the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, who fell victims to the cruel desire of the god of the Underworld and spent eternity in bereavement within the confines of the abyss. Ironically, but not without design, these mythological truths have their counterparts in Christian theology, and lend an air of continuity and Classical perfection to Herrick’s poetry that wouldn’t be found had he succumbed to the stern ravings of his Puritan contemporaries. Herrick’s immersion in Classical motifs also serves his manifest purpose of transcending the grave, and through the continuity of spiritual truths allows him to, “escape from the temporal flux into the eternal realm of art or ceremony” (Whitaker 33).

In conclusion, it must be said that Herrick suffered for his broadness of vision and his devotion to a faith that encompassed not only Orthodox Christianity but, “May-poles, Hock-carts, Wassails, [and] Wakes” (Whitaker 17). Robert Herrick has been considered by some to be a “minor poet” (Ingram 1), but upon deliberate study of “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time” I have found him to be quite skilled at what he set out to do, which was, in part, to marry the natural to the spiritual world. Robert Herrick lived in a time of great political and religious upheaval; he not only witnessed the violent overthrow of the Stuart monarchy (to which he was loyal), but the reign of his nemeses, the Puritans, under Oliver Cromwell. He also lived in the time of the Thirty Years War, the bloodiest conflict that Europe had ever seen, which was propagandized as a religious struggle and ended the same year that Herrick’s volume, Hesperides was published. Herrick was deposed from his position as vicar and cast into ill repute by the Puritan majority in England shortly before Hesperides was published, yet despite all these difficulties, Robert Herrick maintained the ability to see beauty in the world, and in his religion as well (Johnson 2). William C. Johnson states:

It [Herrick’s poetry] is a world in which people, things, and times commingle, in which Christian and pagan, classical and current, co-exist in harmonious contemporality, a dynamic world in which red roses not only suggest other things but actually do become white cheeks. It is an environment where anything, at any time, may trans-form, blend, or shift to something else (2).

It was in this shifting of paradigm, this confluence of themes and images, and in his ever-vigilant eye for the beauty of nature and the sacramental holiness of marriage in all its forms, that Robert Herrick truly was able to, “escape from the temporal flux into the eternal realm of art or ceremony” and join the pantheon of English literature’s living gods.

Works Cited

Herrick, Robert. “To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time.” Works of Robert Herrick. London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1891. Luminarium. 11 March 2000.
29 April 2008. http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herrick/tovirgins.htm

Holy Bible. New International Version. Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 2003.

Ingram, Randall. “Robert Herrick and the Makings of Hersperides” Studies
In English Literature (Rice) 38 (1998): 127—. Academic Search Premier.
EBSCO. Academic Support Center, Caldwell Community College and Technical
Institute, Boone, NC. 24 April 2008. http://wf2dnvr2.webfeat.org/

Johnson, William C. “In Vino—et in Amore—Veritas: Transformational Animation in
Herrick’s ‘Sack’ Poems” Papers on Language and Literature 41 (2005): 89-108.
Masterfile Premier. EBSCO. Academic Support Center, Caldwell Community
College and Technical Institute, Boone, NC. 22 April 2008.
http://wf2dnvr2.webfeat.org/

Whitaker, Thomas R. “Herrick and the Fruits of the Garden” ELH 22 (1955): 16-33.
JSTOR. Appalachian State University Library, Boone, NC. 28 April 2008.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2872002

We Will Be Heard

2008-04-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

Article Summary from the Christian Science Monitor: African’s Newest Form of
Dissent: Blogs

By

Varo Borja

This article from the Christian Science Monitor discusses the use of blogging as a means for residents of Sub-Saharan African nations to voice their opinions on local, national, and regional events, and even voice dissent against their respective governments. The article opens with some comments from a Congolese blogger named Cedric Kalonji. Mr. Kalonji states, in regard to his blog, “I am Congolese and I talk about what is happening around me—the truth.” Mr. Kalonji’s blog is on congoblog.net, and is:

read by thousands of people around the world…it [sic] receives about 250 pageviews per day and has won international awards including the prestigious Best of Blogs award for the top French-language blog in 2007.

Mr. Kalonji states in the article that blogging provides a means of voicing his opinions about the state of the Congolese government that wouldn’t be afforded to him in any other manner. The article goes on to state that Bob LaGamma, director of a Washington-based advocacy group named Council for a Community of Democracies, supports these efforts by African bloggers as a means of exercising free speech. However, some of the recent African blogs go beyond free speech and delve into the realm of propaganda, such as the Niger rebel group, Movement of Nigeriens for Justice. Another rebel group makes its news known to the world on a blog found at makaila.over-blog.com, where posts are made on developments in the country of Chad, some of the posts calling for the deposition of the Chadian president, Idriss Deby. A tale of heroism and determination comes from the blogger responsible for the makaila.over-blog.com site, Makaila Nguebla, who sleeps next to his computer and takes phone calls and text messages twenty-four hours a day in support of the Chadian rebels. Mr. Nguebla states in the article that the Chadian government is, “not happy about his blog”, but he will post anything that, “serves to destabilize the regime.”

On a more disturbing note, Africa expert Leonard Vincent states that, “while expanding freedom of speech in Africa is important, some opposition and rebel blogs are taking it [blogging] too far.” Mr. Vincent states that, in particular, the political blogs in Sub-Saharan Africa publish, “whatever they want—full of libel, defamation, violence, [and] sometimes very graphic images.” However, Mr. Vincent states that the African governments, for the time being, have much more important issues at hand, and haven’t really begun to suppress blogs of dissent in the region. He does state that as the internet becomes a ubiquitous feature of African daily life, as it has in the west, the repressive regimes of the Sub-Saharan region will become increasingly more intolerant and belligerent towards these bloggers, who with enough pageviews per day, could lend a hand in either the elimination of tyranny or the continuance of the same in the Sub-Saharan region.

For further analysis, I have chosen to compare the situation of the bloggers in Sub-Saharan Africa to the arguments of Stephen D. Krasner and Kimberly Weir in their article on the survival of the sovereign state titled, “Will State Sovereignty Survive Globalism?”. Stephen D. Krasner states in “Will State Sovereignty Survive Globalism?” that, “states are better able to respond [to threats to their sovereignty] than in the past.” This is a double-sided statement, because, according to the Christian Science Monitor article, the Sub-Saharan states are aware of African bloggers, but aren’t taking any real steps to suppress them. Mr. Krasner also states that, “the impact of the global media on political authority (the so-called CNN effect) pales in comparison to the havoc that followed the invention of the printing press.” Is the lack of action on the part of the African authorities a sign that the bloggers of the Sub-Saharan region aren’t causing enough “havoc” to merit a crackdown? According to the article, the authorities were completely aware of Mr. Nguebla’s blog, but had only threatened him with censorship; a mild form of punishment considering the usual savagery displayed by Sub-Saharan leaders. Or are the African authorities afraid of global repercussions for the suppression of the dissenting blogs, like Mr. Nguebla’s, because of their worldwide readerships? According to Kimberly Weir’s argument (that state sovereignty will not survive Globalism) in “Will State Sovereignty Survive Globalism?”, “communications have been chipping away at the state since the printing press was invented.” Ms. Weir also states that the proliferation of technology, especially of the internet, will continue to threaten state sovereignty because technology puts power in the hands of the erstwhile disenfranchised and powerless denizens of nations like Chad and Zimbabwe, and makes the suppression of political dissent, within a sovereign state, more difficult. The question is then, is blogging chipping away at state sovereignty enough to merit widespread suppression? This too is a double-sided query, answerable depending on the time frame in question. In the Christian Science Monitor article, Mr. Leonard Vincent states that the issue of dissenting blogs in Sub-Saharan Africa, for the time being, is a minor issue, but in the long term, he expects to see the widespread suppression of dissenting blogs there, in full accordance with the characters of Sub-Saharan rulers. This statement lends credence to both arguments, with the lion’s share going to Ms. Weir, who in the long term, will most certainly be proved correct.

My thoughts on this issue, as a blogger myself, are in support of free speech everywhere, but with the responsibility of telling the truth. I do not agree with the practice of needless defamation, or the proliferation of violent scenes across the web where children may view them carelessly. However, I visited the two blogs mentioned in the article (m-n-j.blogspot.com and makaila.over-blog.com) and found them to be quite harmless, if a little too politically charged. I read very little French, but the m-n-j.blogspot.com blog featured mostly name calling, red-ink propaganda, and harmless pictures of freedom fighters arrayed in battle garb. The makaila.over-blog.com blog seemed to me more intelligent and better put together, and featured what seemed to be insightful, concise articles and commentary on the state of the Chadian government. I found nothing in either blog that was objectionable, let alone reprehensible, or unworthy to be viewed by anyone surfing the web. I also feel that, with the current tyrannies in existence in the Sub-Saharan region, political defamation, in most cases, would be an inappropriate term when connected with the rulers of Chad, Niger, and Zimbabwe. I believe, like Malcolm X and the Chadian blogger Makaila Nguebla, that political freedom, equality, and justice, must be attained for all people by “any means necessary”, and I applaud the determined efforts of Mr. Nguebla and his associates throughout Sub-Saharan Africa for their non-violent, expressive means of achieving those goals.

Ashes of American Dreams

2008-04-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

Ashes of American Dreams: An Analysis of Death of a Salesman

Varo Borja

The jungle is dark but full of diamonds – Arthur Miller

The American Dream, according to Arthur Miller, is a type of ubiquitous delusion, fueled by the fumes of the Reformation, leaving in its wake the bones of the Willy Lomans of this world to bleach in the setting sun of the modern age. However, Mr. Miller’s vision was almost assuredly clouded by his resentment of the white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant path to success. In Death of a Salesman, the victors are those devoted to efficient study—not just the perusal of mathematics books and law treatises, but the profitable study of human nature. Willy Loman’s brother Charles and his son Bernard, if not for the implied ties of blood to the other Loman’s, could easily be mistaken for Brooklyn Jews: shrewd, studious, and devoted to the realistic conquest of the Almighty Dollar, be it through a game of casino or a case tried before the highest court in the land. This stereotype is at first misleading and ultimately erroneous. However, Mr. Miller portrays Willy Loman and his sons as red-blooded, pugilistic, yet foolish Anglo-Saxon social warriors bent on the appropriation of the American Dream to their hot-tempered wills—a much more harmonious characterization. Whatever Mr. Miller’s motives for the way he crafts his characters, there seem to be forces at work within the play other than that of race. Socio-economic, psychological, and religious connotations abound throughout Death of a Salesman. In reference to these determinants, I have selected an article titled, “Is There a Science of Success?” by Nicholas Lemann that explores these elements from the point of view of a social scientist, the noted Dr. David McClelland. Dr. McClelland propounded that, in light of certain personality tests that he created, the American psyche is composed of three distinct elements: the needs for achievement, power, and affiliation. Furthermore, in Death of a Salesman these three underlying personality motivators are displayed quite distinctly in the characters of Willy Loman and his nephew Bernard, and contribute on the one hand to Willy’s eventual demise and Bernard’s ultimate success.

The need for achievement, or more properly termed, the ability to be efficient, is considered by Dr. David McClelland to be of prime importance to the young man or woman determined to succeed in the American system (Lemann 88). Dr. McClelland compares the man or woman driven by the need for achievement to be like a person competing in a ring toss who takes the position from the goal with the maximum prospect of success (Lemann 95). In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman’s focus on achievement is low, based on the qualifications that Dr. McClelland sets down, and Willy’s achievement is based almost solely upon the attainment of money, material comforts, and personal glory: a goal that Dr. McClelland deprecates as an end in itself (Lemann 92). By contrast, Bernard’s character in the story is highly focused on achievement, as set down by Dr. McClelland’s principles, and consequently Bernard succeeds where Willy Loman and his progeny fail. In Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman asks of Bernard regarding the latter’s success,

Willy (small and alone): What—what’s the secret?

Bernard: What secret?

Willy: How—how did you? Why didn’t he [Biff] ever catch on?

Bernard: I wouldn’t know that Willy.

Willy (confidentially, desperately): You were his friend, his boyhood friend. His life ended after that Ebbets Field game. From the age of seventeen nothing good ever happened to him.

Bernard: He never trained himself for anything. (Act II)

This quiet conversation between Willy and Bernard is quite revealing. Willy, the once proud purveyor of charm and physical prowess cowers at the feet of his erstwhile despised, yet now successful nephew, pleading with Bernard to pass on to him the secret of success that is almost self-evident after reading Dr. David McClelland’s principles. Bernard valued achievement through patient study and training, while Willy Loman and his sons placed their bets in the gamble of life on fleeting displays of vainglory such as the Ebbets Field game, thereby equipping themselves poorly for the quest for success and engendering their eventual failure in the race for the American Dream.

Next, Dr. McClelland propounds that the desire for power is one that can either lead to extreme fortune or abject poverty (Lemann 92). Dr. McClelland uses an analogy of two gamblers to contrast the seeker of achievement and the pursuant of power. Dr. McClelland relates that at a hypothetical roulette wheel, the seeker of achievement would bet on a color, while the power hungry person would bet on a number, therefore lowering his/her odds dramatically, but raising the possible stakes of a win exponentially (Lemann 95). Furthermore, Dr. McClelland states those primarily in need of power are, “more likely to have glamorous lives” (Lemann 94), but that they also, “want the world to beat a path to their door” (Lemann 95). Willy Loman is certainly a devotee of the power cult in America, but his quest for power turns on him like a boomerang and all but cuts him to pieces. Willy Loman, in Death of a Salesman, is akin to the man who bets all he has on a number on the roulette wheel (his sons, his ability to physically dominate, and his ability to sell himself, or be “well-liked”) and loses in pathetic fashion, taking his fortune and his family down into the abyss together (Requiem). Conversely, Bernard channels his desire for power into a patient and determined, yet educated effort to succeed by surer measures. Bernard doesn’t count on his ability to be liked or to physically dominate other men and women; he counts on his training, his ability to perform his job, and ultimately on his aptitude for achieving realistic, worthwhile goals (Act II). In Death of a Salesman, while Biff, Happy, and Willy are indulging in dreams of pomp, power, and the subjugation of others by their overly-masculine dominance, Bernard seeks more realistic aims,

Bernard: Biff, where are you? You’re supposed to study with me today.

Willy: Hey, looka Bernard. What’re you lookin’ so anemic about, Bernard?

Bernard: He’s gotta study, Uncle Willy. He’s got Regents next week.

Happy (taunting, spinning Bernard around): Let’s box, Bernard!

Bernard: Biff! (He gets away from Happy.) Listen, Biff, I heard Mr. Birnbaum say that if you don’t start studyin’ math, he’s gonna flunk you, and you won’t graduate. I heard him!

Willy: You better study with him, Biff. Go ahead now.

Biff: Oh, Pop, you didn’t see my sneakers! (He holds up a foot for Willy to look at.)

Willy: Hey, that’s a beautiful job of printing!

Bernard (wiping his glasses): Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn’t mean they’ve got to graduate him, Uncle Willy!

Willy (angrily): What’re you talking about? With scholarships to three universities they’re gonna flunk him?

Bernard: But I heard Mr. Birnbaum say—

Willy: Don’t be a pest, Bernard! (To his boys.) What an anemic! (Act I)

Bernard is cast off as a harbinger of doom by the Lomans, when in reality Bernard seeks a much surer path to victory in the American system than Willy and Biff with their fancied sense of entitlement based on dominance, or Happy with his foolish boxing antics in the midst of a real crisis. This “channeling of the Power motive” by Bernard and contrasting lack of balance displayed by Willy, Happy, and Biff is fully in line with the McClelland system, and at least in Bernard’s case, results in long-term success within the American system (Lemann 98).

Finally, the need for affiliation is evident in Death of a Salesman through the constant and unsuccessful attempts of Willy Loman and his offspring to be both “well-liked” and exert undue influence upon their peers (Act I). Throughout the story, Willy Loman is obsessed with who he is connected to and with how other people feel about him and about his ability to sell himself. Dr. David McClelland, in his book The Drinking Man, explored the need for Affiliation and likened it to the ability to “love and be loved” or “a feeling of optimism and of being in control of one’s life” (Lemann 96) expressed through interaction with one’s family and society at large. Willy Loman certainly places a high rating on the need for affiliation, but overly so. Willy Loman is not only interdependent with his wife, sons, brothers, and with society, he is ultimately in abject dependence upon them for both his livelihood and his sense of well-being (Act II). When Willy Loman pays his final visit to his brother Charlie to ask for money, this abject dependence, coupled still with the desire to exert the power motive, is quite evident,

Willy (moving toward the chair): I’m keeping an account of everything, remember. I’ll pay every penny back. (He sits.)

Charley: Now listen to me, Willy.

Willy: I want you to know I appreciate…

Charley (sitting down on the table): Willy, what’re you doin’? What the hell is goin’ on in your head?

Willy: Why? I’m simply…

Charley: I offered you a job. You can make fifty dollars a week. And I won’t send you on the road.

Willy: I’ve got a job.

Charley: Without pay? What kind of a job is a job without pay? (He rises.) Now, look, kid, enough is enough. I’m no genius but I know when I’m being insulted.

Willy: Insulted!

Charley: Why don’t you want to work for me?

Willy: What’s the matter with you? I’ve got a job…

Charley: Then what’re you walkin’ in here every week for?

Willy (getting up): Well, if you don’t want me to walk in here—

Charley: I’m offering you a job.

Willy: I don’t want your goddam job!

Charley: When the hell are you going to grow up? (Act II)

Such dependence could only lead to an unbalanced life, and eventually, to the ruin experienced by Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. In opposition to this sort of dependence stands Bernard, the once quiet, shy and socially unacceptable lad who becomes, through the relinquishing of this sort of dependence for a healthier interdependence with co-workers and family, a man brimming over with self-assurance and quiet contentment. Perhaps the starkest contrast between the McClelland-type healthy, successful man and that of the man suffering from a “cruel delusion” (Lemann 98) is in the last meeting of Willy and Bernard before Bernard leaves to try a case before the Supreme Court (Act II). Willy Loman’s high reliance on affiliation, in the end, places him in the position of both a beggar of money from his brother Charlie and a humble, broken and nearly psychotic flatterer of the nephew he once regarded as a “pest” (Act II).

In conclusion, the “cruel delusion” (Lemann 98) suffered by Willy Loman throughout Death of a Salesman is all too accurate, but still quite pessimistic. Dr. David McClelland, although well-meaning in his attempts to define human motivations and train men to, “become the kind of people economists think everybody is” (Lemann 92) still falls far short of defining what truly makes life worthwhile. Perhaps Willy Loman and his kind are too aware of the systems laid down by Dr. David McClelland and his brood of social scientists. McClelland’s system, like most of the social propaganda of the 20^th century, is based on the tenets of Charles Darwin and his “process of natural selection” (Lemann 98) which likens men more to beasts of burden than intelligent, compassionate, and loving sons of God. Perhaps the greatest fault of Dr. David McClelland’s theories and of the American system is the absence of grace and mercy found in the writings of the men whom Dr. McClelland ascribes the promulgation of the American Way: the fathers of the Reformation (Lemann 89). To go back even further, the writings of Solomon might be ascribed to the competition of man against man when he said, “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men” (Proverbs 22: 28-29). However, it is in the words of Jesus of Nazareth that we find the solution to the infinite and vain struggle for achievement, power, and affiliation, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). Perhaps the trouble with Willy Loman and his like is the ultimate absence of the ability for true relation to both man and God. Bernard, in Death of a Salesman, seeks neither to dominate nor to manipulate Willy Loman and his sons—Bernard seeks only to love Biff and humbly “carry his shoulder guards” (Act I). Near the end of the play, Bernard fistfights with Biff after Biff’s return from New England, not out of a desire to dominate Biff, but out of a sense of brotherly concern for his failing hero (Act II). In a final act of generosity and magnanimity, Bernard seeks to cheer Willy Loman when Willy’s metaphorical roulette number had finally cost him all (Act II). It is chiefly in this aptitude of Bernard for quiet, humble service and genuine concern for his fellow man that he dignifiedly lives out the American Dream, and not only is he a winner in the American system, but in the grander scope of Creation as a whole.

Works Cited

Holy Bible. New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985.

Lemann, Nicholas. “Is There a Science of Success?” Atlantic Monthly 1072

(1994): 83-98. MasterFile Premier. EBSCO. Caldwell Community College

and Technical Institute Learning Center, Boone, NC. 25 March 2008

http://wf2dnvr8.webfeat.org/

Miller, Arthur. “Death of a Salesman.” The Bedford Introduction to Literature.

Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 1908-1972.

Zimbabwe

2008-03-19T21:37:00.000-07:00

Article Summary and Analysis: Coming to a Crunch: From The Economist March 18, 2008

by

Varo Borja

This article, from The Economist March 18 edition, discusses the coming parliamentary and presidential elections in Zimbabwe on March 29. The article begins with a warning: Don’t re-elect Robert Mugabe. Mr. Mugabe, through extreme leftist disbursements of land and capital to his cronies, violent suppression of dissenting voices, and outright corruption, has almost bankrupted the sovreign state of Zimbabwe since it won its independence from British control in 1980. The 84-year-old Mr. Mugabe, instead of retiring and handing over power to his nominal successor, Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa, is scheming for continued control over the state of Zimbabwe by his tired methods of nepotism, subversion, bribery, and threatened violence. However, Mr. Mugabe faces at least one viable rival in the person of Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai, and a lesser, but perhaps more capable opponent in Mr. Simba Makoni, “a former finance minister whom many of Zimbabwe's black and shrinking white professional middle class see as the decent and competent face of ZANU-PF” (the mostly corrupt ruling party in Zimbabwe). Mr. Mugabe has already begun to rig the elections and, according to the article,

The media are hugely stacked against the opposition, which is rarely given even a cursorily polite airing by the all-state-run radio and television services. The election commission is chaired by a Mugabe man, a former general. The registrar-general, another loyalist, presides over an electoral roll that is notoriously unreliable and incomplete, and contains thousands of dead people whose votes are expected to go to the president. Unless voting is extended beyond one day, many town-dwellers may be unable to cast their ballots, because there are too few urban polling stations. The diaspora, some 2m-3m mostly disenchanted Zimbabweans, is barred from voting.

Also, many Zimbabweans see Mr. Makoni as entering the election too late to make a difference, with some Zimbabweans going as far as to label him an agent of Mr. Mugabe’s, sent to disrupt the rallying party of Mr. Tsvangirai, much like the Nader vote has done and will do in the American election of 2008. Also, Mr. Tsvangirai is seen by many to talk loudly and carry a big stick, but to have no real plan for bolstering the economy should he win on March 29. According to the article, the economy is certainly the biggest contributing factor in the discontent of most Zimbabweans, with astronomical inflation rates of 100,000 % yearly, and an almost worthless Zimbabwean dollar weighing in at 30,000 to 1 U.S. dollar. According to the article, in most sections of the country basic necessities such as maize, sugar, and salt in are in desperately low supply, with most the of the nation subsisting on either remittances from exiled Zimbabweans or UN relief. Astonishingly, the Zimbabwean unemployment rate is at around 80%, mainly because of the nepotism and greed displayed by the Mugabe administration. The article ends with a sobering, if gloomy thought that even if Mr. Makoni or Mr. Tsvangirai win the presidential election on March 29, it may be too late for the sinking ship that is the nation of Zimbabwe to recover from its long, corrupt and violent lethargy.

For further analysis of this article I’ve chosen to relate this piece to the machinations of the International Criminal Court. According to the article,

Mr Makoni has called for a government of national unity, bringing together both wings of the MDC and the supposedly acceptable bits of ZANU-PF, along with his own team. Mr Mugabe would be allowed to go into a dignified retirement, and not be sent to The Hague for crimes against humanity.

Would this action, or lack of action, be just? The International Criminal Court is in place to try those accused of “crimes against humanity” and other global offences. Mr Mugabe clearly meets this criterion through his ruining of the Zimbabwean economy, his underhanded political dealings and overt theft of private property, and his various violent crimes against the citizens of Zimbabwe. The manifesto for the ICC also states that there must be “repeat offences” to merit an inquiry by the ICC, but Mr. Mugabe has been in power for over 20 years and repeatedly violated the statutes set up by the court. Perhaps this lack of action by the ICC is in accordance with John R. Bolton’s argument that the court is both ineffective and hindered by the same bureaucratic straight-jacket that the UN and other multi-national organizations wear.
If this is the case, perhaps the United States should further decline membership in the ICC, in accordance with (ugh) President Bush’s former refusals.

My thoughts on this article are myriad in scope. How can such a tyrannical, unjust, violent and oppressive regime be allowed to continue in power with the means available to depose it? Obviously, the ICC isn’t fulfilling its obligation to enforce global justice. The United States is stretched to the hilt in Iraq and Afghanistan, and sub-Saharan Africa is in such turmoil as to be ineffective in combating injustice. From an idealistic standpoint, I can’t help but look with chagrin at the inaction of the rest of the world on this issue. However, I am ever more becoming a realist in the realm of global politics. Perhaps Zimbabweans and the rest of sub-Saharan Africa aren’t ready for peace, justice, prosperity and equality. Obviously, the imperial pursuits of European nations have played havoc with Africa and Africans in the past. Mr. Mugabe and his lot sought to completely cast off the shackles of their former European masters, but what have they gained? Chaos, cruelty, starvation, and bankruptcy seem to permeate the African landscape. It seems that only time and evolution will heal the hurts of the sub-Saharan African nations. In the meantime, I suppose it is up to the UN and the rest of the civilized world to act as midwife for sub-Saharan pre-adolescent growing pains.

Venerable Oaks and Steel Magnolias

2008-03-04T22:43:00.000-08:00

Venerable Oaks and Steel Magnolias: A Response to “A Rose for Emily"

By

Varo Borja

The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past. – William Faulkner

The sun set properly upon the Southern Way in the wake of the red tide of defeat suffered by the gray coats that ended the Civil War and ushered in the period of carpetbaggers, worthless Confederate cash, and corrupted traditions known as Reconstruction. Out of the alloy of war, defeat, dissimulation, poverty, and time was hammered some of the finest prose ever to be composed by an American. William Faulkner presented to the world, through his stories, the stage on which the great drama of the human condition could be explored at depths previously unforeseen, but perhaps his greatest gift to the world of letters was to explore this drama in microcosm, especially as the theatre of the human heart was beheld in the South. In “A Rose for Emily” Faulkner laid bare the duties and passions of a woman and a town confined within the amphitheater of Jefferson, Mississippi many years after the last, thin, gray wraiths had disappeared beneath the tombstones of Faulkner’s, “cedar-bemused cemetery” (Meyer 95). However, the specters of Southern pride and antebellum anachronism are alive throughout this self-proclaimed “ghost story” as the passage of time refuses to give rest to these ever-present phantoms of the past. Primarily, in “A Rose for Emily,” the past exerts its influence upon the present through the machinations of tradition and duty; these devices exert their sway upon each of the sexes in different ways and assign each sex specific roles, but much like the gray uniforms of their not-so-distant kin, the gender roles of the good people of Jefferson become blurred at times, if not entirely inextricable from each other.

As the only real first-class citizens of the American south, the traditional role of southern white men was to fulfill their duty as protectors and patriarchs. First and foremost, the past holds sway in the present tense through the role assigned the southern man of protector of the weak; in this case the “weak” one happens to be Emily. Near the beginning of the story, we are informed that Colonel Sartoris, the once-renowned patriarch of Jefferson, protected Emily in a financial sense by remitting her taxes (Meyer 96). However, to preserve not only Emily’s livelihood but her pride as well, Colonel Sartoris is forced to resort to an elaborate ruse to accomplish this feat of contrivance, therefore resorting to silly, feminine subterfuge (Meyer 96). Furthermore, the men of Jefferson protected Emily’s reputation by scattering lime on her yard to avoid a lingering stench emanating from her mansion. However, the good men of the town “slunk about the house like burglars” (Meyer 97) in a tragic-comedic act of desperate, duty-bound civil service, taking special care not to be seen and further Ms. Emily’s disgrace. This scene portrays the elders of Jefferson more as hens than as roosters, and lends a feminine subtlety to their innate southern chivalry.

The traditional duty of patriarch was exemplified by southern men as the heads of their families and their towns; the supreme patriarch in “A Rose for Emily” is her father. Emily’s father exerts his influence, from the past, upon Emily in a figurative sense by becoming irreplaceable in her life and demanding, from the grave, utter obedience and ongoing implied deference. The childlike crayon drawing found in Emily’s home at the end of the story is the perfect example of Emily’s unwavering devotion to her father, and represents a lifetime, by her, paid in homage to the ghost of a dead patriarch (Meyer 101). Emily’s father also exerts his influence, from the past, upon Emily in a literal sense as shown by the choices she makes well into adulthood. Emily would rather kill her lover than suffer her father’s name to be tarnished through the unutterable act of adultery. However, the traditional role of patriarch is somewhat blurred by Emily’s character in the story. Emily also demands utter obedience from the druggist (Meyer 99) and deference, although somewhat backhanded and hypocritical, is paid her throughout the story, especially in her encounter with the city authorities (Meyer 96) and the visit paid her by the Baptist minister (Meyer 99).

The traditional role of the Southern woman, as portrayed in “A Rose for Emily” is one of pity-driven and gossip-laden domestic service, dutiful subversion and silly subterfuge. When Emily’s father dies, the ladies of the town fulfill their domestic duties by calling on Emily in her time of crisis. Faulkner must add, however, that “at last they could pity Miss Emily”, as if pity were a pre-requisite for love (Meyer 97). The ladies of the town also fulfill their domestic duties via the traditional Southern ingredient of gossip, which they relish as if it were a fine Swiss chocolate or a respectable form of vice, much like Homer Barron’s cigar (Meyer 99). The distant relatives of Emily, the Alabama Griersons, fulfill their obligation to subvert the scandalous activities of their wayward cousin and Homer Barron upon their arrival in Jefferson, all at the pious behest of the minister’s wife (Meyer 99). Finally, the ladies of the town fulfill their time- honored penchant for silly subterfuge when they enter Emily’s house, upon her death, with “hushed, sibilant voices and…quick, curious glances” (Meyer 101). Faulkner implies that the ladies of the town are more concerned with the lurid pleasure of seeing the inside of Emily Grierson’s house one final time than in paying proper tribute to the fallen, once-dreaded matriarch of Jefferson. However, upon further perusal of the text these same silly, traditionally feminine, and half-cowardly actions are found to be carried out by the men of the town as well in the sometimes-begrudged and constantly-chronicled domestic service performed by the Aldermen and elders of Jefferson on Emily’s behalf, particularly displayed in the awe and respect shown her when confronted (Meyer 96). Moreover, it is the voice of the town itself, not just the women, that claims alternate pity and indignation at the eccentricities and extravagances of the Grierson matriarch (Meyer 99).

In conclusion, the gender roles exemplified in “A Rose for Emily”, although interwoven and ambiguous at times, are just as true today as when this story was penned over fifty years ago. I am a Southerner and always have been, and I have experience with each of the roles portrayed in this story through the agency of my own family. My grandmother, the alternating spy, backbone, and comfort for our family here in Boone could just as easily be a staunch Alabama Grierson. Furthermore, my grandfather, a quiet, reserved and brave, yet compassionate man would most certainly spread lime on the yard of a neighbor in the dead of night to avoid general embarrassment, yet he still had the fortitude to serve his country during times of trouble. I have ghosts of my own in local “cedar bemused cemeteries”. Several of my relatives have served both the home front and the front lines in the conflicts of this country, much like those elders of Jefferson who stemmed the tide of Northern aggression in the 1860’s. Faulkner portrayed his subjects accurately in all their anachronisms and ambiguities, but the gender roles of the southern people are more than an admixture of cowardice and fortitude. These roles add vibrant splashes of color to the gray clothing of the south found in Faulkner’s stories and still provide diversity, humor, and depth to the experience of living in the south today.

American Civil War

2007-12-13T10:40:00.000-08:00

The Home Fires Burn

Varo Borja

Never be haughty to the humble; never be humble to the haughty. – Jefferson Davis

The American Civil War was probably the defining epoch of the United States of America. The war claimed the lives of more Americans than any war before or since, and it not only abolished a system that was both repugnant and destructive to the souls of the citizens of the United States, the war solidified under one government the erstwhile sectionally divided and regionally proud denizens of our Great Republic. However, sectional loyalties and regional differences still persist in the United States to this day, and almost no time in the history of America were these loyalties and prejudices more apparent than during the Civil War. Western North Carolinians were especially proud of and loyal to their homeland, as they are today. The common confederate soldier from Western N.C. in the American Civil War, although beleaguered by defeats in battle, sickness in camp, and worries of the home front, never lost sight of what truly mattered to him: his home, his family, and his region.

In 1861, the common Confederate soldier from Western North Carolina was anxious to defend his homeland against the "Northern Aggressor". Seth McBride, a soldier from Western North Carolina wrote to his brother and sister that, on August 25th of 1861 he was, “fat and still fattening” (1861). Food, for the North Carolina resident of the 19th century, was a prized commodity, and to claim that he was growing fatter, although probably an overstatement, reflected that he was content and optimistic. His spirits were high, the esprit de corps of his regiment was in full flower, and he was even grateful that his officers were, “very strict, and I like them better for that” (S. McBride, 1861). This letter was written a little over a month after the Confederate victory at Bull Run, and the general feelings about the war were optimistic and lively. Another letter from a teenage girl in Rutherfordton on January 8, 1861 said,

We are all anticipating war here; we girls are reading all the stories we can find about the women of the Revolution, so that we’ll know how to act bravely and magnanimously in time of war” (Inscoe and McKinney, 59).

With such devotion on the home front, and success in the field, the average Confederate soldier in 1861 had many reasons to believe a bright future lay ahead for the Confederate States of America.

In February of 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant attacked on captured Fort Henry in Tennessee, but was defeated at the battle of Shiloh two months later. Two letters are extant from 1862 that show cooled attitudes towards the war and more sober outlook by the common soldier. The first, from a Western North Carolina Confederate soldier named Alfred G__ states,

I can say to you that I am not well…I have been for two weeks and part of the time very sick…I write this letter as an inquiry also to know if you can tell me anything about my wife. I have wrote her thirteen letters and have never got an answer from her yet since I got to Virginia (1862).

This letter reveals two things: a communication breakdown in the Confederate mail system and the dreaded camp disease so prevalent in both armies during the war. By 1862, reality had set in and most of the populace counted on the war lasting an interminable amount of time. Another letter from a soldier named BL Green who was stationed at Camp Richmond, Virginia in August of 1862 reads,

I this morning take the present time in writing you a few lines which will inform you that I am in common health ever hoping that when these few lines which will inform you that I am in common health…I have nothing much to write that will interest you more than Uncle B and Brother Silas has got back from the North…Uncle is as fat as a Grisley Bear but Silas look sort of slim…Townsel died after they got to New York…As in regard to war news they keep fighting a little almost every day, but know regular engagement…(Green 1862)

This letter is also revealing of the camp sickness endemic in 19th century warfare when it speaks of Silas “looking sort of slim” and Townsel dying mysteriously in New York. There were fears expressed as well about conditions on the home front in Western North Carolina. According to a letter from Confederate lieutenant W.F. Parker, a native of Asheville who was stationed in East Tennessee, Parker expressed fear over a coming invasion from Federal forces towards Asheville, and pleaded with local militia to “erect impenetrable fortifications” to avoid such an attack (Inscoe and McKinney, 108). With infrequent letters from home, lingering camp sickness and possible attack of their native region, Confederate soldiers from Western North Carolina in 1862 had many reasons to look with dread upon the years of war that lay ahead.
After a stunning victory at Fredericksburg in December of 1862, war fever ran high through the Confederate ranks. However, camp sickness and worries of the home front still plagued many soldiers. Most soldiers were reluctant to inform their families of their true states of health or conditions in the field due to extreme loyalty and a desire not to worry their kinfolk, but in some instances poor health could mean a furlough, as is described in a letter from T. B. Edmisten to his parents in July, 1863. The letter reads,

It is improving some but I am not able for duty I hav got so that I can talk nearly as good as eaver My throat is very soare even now now and has been for the last two weeaks I hav not Mother I cant tell whier I wil git of or not the Dr gave me a surtificate for a disch-- charge and it is gone to the general it will be some thing like a month befour I hear from it and if I git the chance I will come home as soon as I can Reduced mutch but I am very weak.

Edmisten goes on in the letter to remind his parents that their letters are a great pleasure to him, and he exhorts his father to “take more rest” because of “advancing age” (Edmisten, 1863). 1863 was the zenith of Confederate success during the Civil War, culminating in Lee’s victory at Chancellorsville in May of that year. On the eve of Gettysburg, a Western North Carolina soldier named JG Huntley wrote to his sister saying,

Dear sister a fiew Lines to you I am in the Best of health at this time hoping this Will find you all in the same Condition I Will only say to you that We have Crossed the potomach and has passed through Meriland and is Now in P A Within 60 miles of harrisburg the Capital of this state We hant herd of any Yankees Nearer than harrisburg the Capital But I Expect that hooker is Nearer than that We are stoped today in a Beautiful Oke grove I Cant tell whare old Lee Will Carry us tow this is One of the finest Countrys that I Ever saw But I hant time to tell you of any of Our ups and downs Now at this time tell pap Not to Come to this War I hant time to tell you Nothing at this time worth any thing may heaven Bless you all (Huntley, 1863)

This letter is very indicative of the feigned optimistic tone found in many Civil War letters from soldiers to family, and foreshadows the calm before the storm at the great Confederate defeat at Gettysburg. Not much longer would the tide ride high for the soldiers of the Confederacy, and camp disease and trouble on the home front were two shadows that loomed constantly in the backs of the their minds.

After crippling Confederate defeats at Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Chattanooga, many in the South began to believe that the war was lost. Desertion plagued the Confederate army, and Union forays into the mountains of Western North Carolina left the people on the home front discouraged and disgusted. A letter from G.W. Logan, a Unionist who was elected to the Confederate Congress, relates some of the damage done by the recent campaigning in Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia. The letter states,

Dear Sir:A few days ago I visited Camp Winder a Hospital near this place & saw some of your countrymen & gained the following information of casualties in the late battle G.S. Ferguson was wounded in the head, not serious M. Main [?] in the elbow L.W. Murray, in the side H.P. Holland in the hand T.M. Green in the arm The above are the only ones I have heard from. I am sorry I cannot write you something of interest Congress has done but very little, nor do I think it will do much. We are trying to modify the Tax T_____ and impressment laws but I cannot as yet tell the result.Genl Lee has fallen back near this place & it is believed his army will soon be within the entrenchments surrounding the City.It is said Gen Grant is now coming up on the old ground of McClelland & will unite with _____. Both armys are reinforcing largely [?] & the next fight is expected to be the great battle of the War. In the late engage-- ments the loss on both sides was immense, our loss must have been in Killed wounded & prisoners at least 20 or --25.0000 & the Yankees more than double that number.There is but little ap-- pearance of Peace, though the present Congress is much stronger for negotiations than the preceding one.The Dis_______ are determined not to havepeace only in their own way & at their own time. Very Respectfully G.W. Logan

With defeats in the field of this magnitude, an ever-increasing sense of doom was held by many in the Confederate army, and desertion rates mounted steadily. In Western North Carolina, guerrilla warfare was ravaging the countryside with both Union and Confederate troops inflicting damage on the populace, prompting North Carolina governor Zebulon Vance to say in a letter to Confederate General John C. Vaughan after two of Vaughan’s men had been lynched in Watauga county,

No one can more deplore the quasi warfare between the troops and citizens than myself. But sir, the conduct of many of your men…in parts of our mountain country has been sufficient to drive our people to desperation. The stories of robbery and outrage by them would fill a volume and would fully justify the immediate and indiscriminate slaughter of all men caught with the proofs of their villany. From looking upon them as their gallant protectors, thousands in their bitterness of heart have come to regard them as their deadliest enemies (Inscoe and McKinney, 138).

More defeats mounted for the Confederates in 1864, with a substantial loss at Nashville in December and Sherman’s infamous “March to the Sea”, in which Sherman inflicted heavy material and moral losses to the Confederate cause and crippled their ability and their will, to fight.

In conclusion, the year of 1865 tolled the bell for the end of the Confederacy after Lee’s army of Northern Virginia gave a last gasp attempt to fight at Petersburg, with battle ending in defeat and ushering in the sack of Richmond. Lee surrendered less than a month later, with General Johnston surrendering nine days later to Sherman and officially ending the war. The common soldiers of Western North Carolina returned home to find guerrilla warfare still reeking havoc among their kinfolk. More than a month after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, the vestiges of conflict began to die down in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Western North Carolina soldiers had fought a long and brutal conflict, and returned home to chaos and the fear of banditry. What is remarkable about them though, is the ability of these soldiers to retain a positive attitude, at least about their health and their stations in life, even in the midst of a war that for many was hell on earth, and purgatory on the home front. The simple faith in family and Creator held by the men from Western North Carolina sustained them in their tribulations, and although many of them lost faith in their government and even in the war itself, they never gave up on what truly mattered: their immediate families and their homes. More than anything else a sectional and regional conflict, the American Civil War proved the resilience and devotion of a generation of fighting men, and imbued them with the toughness to weather the storm of Reconstruction ahead.

Works Cited

McBride Letter: 1861. Found in LRC at Caldwell Community College. Diane Barefoot
Collection.
G, Alfred Letter: 1862. Found in LRC at Caldwell Community College. Diane Barefoot
Collection.
BL Green Letter: 1862. Found in LRC at Caldwell Community College. Diane Barefoot
Collection.
T.B. Edmisten Letter: 1863. Found at: http://library.wcu.edu/DigitalColl/CIVILWAR/edmon/edintro.htm
JG Huntley Letter: 1863. Found at:

http://library.wcu.edu/DigitalColl/CIVILWAR/huntley/hunttext.htm

GW Logan Letter: 1864. Found at:

http://library.wcu.edu/DigitalColl/CIVILWAR/cathey/INDEX.HTM

Inscoe, John C. and Gordon B. McKinney. The Heart of Confederate Appalachia:

Western North Carolina in the Civil War. Chapel Hill: The University of

North Carolina Press, 2000.

Medieval Vs. Modern

2007-12-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

Touchstones and Tin Stamps

By

Varo Borja

There’s never a new fashion but it’s old. – Geoffrey Chaucer

Imagine two craftsmen, one laboring away grinding pigment for paint, the other painstakingly carving a chunk of granite. The first craftsman grinds yellow, red and blue chalk into grains finer than sand and then carefully mixes each of his precious piles of pigment with egg yolks in order to produce brilliant tempera paints, letting his concoctions dry as he laboriously prepares the wall of a monastery for the application of fresco, sanding and scraping until his hands are bleeding and dry as dust. The second craftsman hews and hammers his chunk of granite for days with chisel and hammer until the stone meets the exact specifications of the master mason, and then with his hands bandaged from missed strokes of the hammer, puts the finishing touch upon his block of granite with the insignia of his particular guild, taking utmost care in the carving of his own personal, but still anonymous stamp upon the building block he has fashioned for the new Cathedral at Salisbury. So it was with the artists and artisans of the Middle Ages, who labored day after day to create some of the most beautiful and inspirational works of all time. Some of their art has been lost; however, much of the art and architecture of the Middle Ages survives in the churches, monasteries, and galleries of Europe. The artists and architects of the past five decades have created significant works as well, with varying success and degrees of difficulty. However, the visual arts of the European Medieval period far surpass the painting and architecture of the last fifty years; the artists and architects of the medieval period also left a legacy that both inspires and creates an atmosphere of enjoyment for many people in the 21st century.

In the field of painting, artists from the Middle Ages shined brilliantly. Medieval masters with the paintbrush created religious art primarily, focusing on exquisite depictions of the Crucified Christ, the Enthronement of the Virgin Mary, and elaborate scenes of the Apocalypse. An example of the superb skill and deep feeling of Byzantine artists during the Middle Ages is to be found in the immaculate rendition, by an anonymous artist, of the Crucified Christ at the monastery church in Daphne, Greece (Janson 262). This superb painting reflects the utter nobility of Christ and his sacrificial death. Christ is surrounded by St. John and the Virgin Mary, who witness his earth-shattering and immortal gift to the human race (Janson 263). According to History of Art, the Daphne Christ, “has a balance and clarity that are truly monumental” (Janson 260). The background of the painting is done in gold leaf, as are the halos surrounding the pious heads of Christ, Mary, and John. The Daphne artist depicts Christ with two thin streams of blood and water pouring from his left side; a reminder of the water of life that flows from Christ’s heavenly throne and the blood he shed so unselfishly at Calvary for the atonement of mankind’s sins. Visitors to the Daphne monastery today may still feel the sheer power conveyed by the artist who painted this scene over 800 years ago and be uplifted by the passionate, yet reserved display of the crucifixion of Christ. Truly, there is nothing hanging in the galleries or halls of Europe and America that has been produced within the last five decades, that can surpass the spiritual power of the Daphne Crucifixion.

Another illustration of the mastery displayed by Medieval painters is the Madonna Enthroned by Cimabue, found in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy (Adams 452). This elaborate enthronement depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child, surrounded by a throng of angels and bolstered by four prophets of the Old Testament. In addition to the gold leaf used in the background of the painting, Cimabue adorned the regal heads of the young Jesus and Mary with exquisitely thin, gilt strips. The painting is done in tempera (pigment mixed with egg yolk), and reflects the nimble craftsmanship of Cimabue in the lush draperies that flow outward from the Virgin’s lap. The colors of the piece are both brilliant and meaningful; red is included to symbolize the future sacrifice of the Christ child, and the Virgin is adorned in blue: her traditional iconographic color (Adams 452). According to Laurie Schneider Adams, in her book Art Across Time, “the four prophets at the foot of the throne embody the Old Dispensation as the foundation of the New” (452). This piece is redolent of a time when the old masters invested their works with holy symbolism and the stuff of their own souls; also, because of the pains taken in the production of this painting, this piece may still be enjoyed and meditated upon by visitor’s to the Uffizi Gallery today. The four Old Testament prophets in the Madonna Enthroned might look with skepticism at many of the “new dispensation” of artists producing works today with neither the significance, nor the reverence, found in the masterpiece of Cimabue.

A final representation of the surpassing qualities of Medieval painting may be found in the Arena Chapel in Padua, Italy, in the form of Giotto’s Last Judgment (Adams 460). This apocalyptic piece was placed on the west wall of the Arena chapel, after a series of other events portrayed by Giotto in chronological order found on the other walls of the church (Adams 461). The magnitude and breathtaking scope of this piece are undeniable: the Last Judgment is 33 feet high by 27 feet wide (Adams 460). The viewer of the Last Judgment is at once drawn to the person of Christ in the center, surrounded by a circle of holy fire and His attending cherubim and seraphim. The righteous of God are displayed on the right hand of Christ, in expectation of their just reward. The damned are arrayed on the left hand of Christ in torturous poses, surrounded by unquenchable fire and lorded over by a beastly Satan, who is devouring one helpless victim after another. In the background and left and right foreground are the choir of elders and the prophets of old, witnessing the scene of triumph and destruction with pious, yet indignant faces. Truly this piece is a monument to a time when divine inspiration played as much a part in the production of art as the desire to hand down to posterity scenes that would both uplift the viewer, and exhort him or her to lead a life in the full assurance of there one day occurring a final reckoning with God. In that capacity, this piece is surely just as effective as it was 800 years ago. Divers works by the hands of modern artists in New York and Paris have been manufactured over the past fifty years with varying degrees of success, but none of these productions may compare, in eminence of scope and ethereal grace, to Giotto’s Last Judgment.

In the past fifty years, many styles of painting have degenerated into formlessness, obscure expressionism, or cold, unfeeling realism. Although vastly popular in his day, Jackson Pollack created paintings that lacked form, substance, and any significant symbolic meaning. One example of this lack of structure may be found in Pollack’s Autumn Rhythm housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York (Preble 444). Duane Preble, in his book Artfoms describes Pollack’s method of painting as, “dripping thin paint onto the canvas rather than brushing it on” (444). Upon first viewing Autumn Rhythm, the viewer is entranced by the haphazard, yet alluring effect conveyed by Pollack’s method; however, after further investigation the viewer is left with a feeling of having been cheated, or drawn into a magnificent ruse facilitated by the brushwork of Mr. Pollack. In many ways groundbreaking, Autumn Rhythm may be compared to a Fourth of July fireworks display on the twentieth of April; the initial effect of the piece is fantastic, but the lasting significance of this piece, in some respects, is lost in its fiery expressionism. Another sample of the degeneration of art in the past fifty years is to be found in the polar opposite of Pollack’s brand of painting: Trompe L’oeil, or “fool the eye” composition. According to Duane Preble’s book, Artforms, “Paintings in this illusionistic style impress us because they look so ‘real’” (27). Once again, the viewer is entranced and allured by the precise details and high color realism found in such paintings as William Harnett’s A Smoke Backstage (Preble 27) Although created much more than fifty years ago, Harnett’s brand of photo realism lives on in the twenty-first century, but still conveys technical ability without feeling, and superimposes precise details for spiritual abstractions of lasting consequence. Photo-realism and chaotic expressionism are not to be found in the works of Giotto, Cimabue and other Medieval painters; their work was infused with the natural beauty of the human figure and the otherworldly aspect of sacred subjects, and unequivocally, the immaterial and natural characteristics of Medieval painting surpass the plastic productions of many artists in the modern era.

In the construction of landmark buildings, the architects and artisans of the Medieval period have no rival. At the behest of Abbot Suger and other benefactors of the Middle Ages, great cathedrals were built to facilitate the worship of the Triune God (Kemp 100). In France, Chartres Cathedral is perhaps the paradigm for elegance, spiritual depth, and magnitude without ostentation in regard to architecture. According to The Oxford History of Western Art,

At the west front of Chartres Cathedral (c. 1145-50), an influential early Gothic monument, sculpture on the three doorways refers to Christ from the beginning to the end of time, culminating in the central tympanum of him at the Second Coming. The lintel, capitals, arches and columns at Chartres are neither plain nor ornamental but are carved with figural groups which amplify the theological content of the whole scene (Kemp 101).

Such devices as an apocalyptic tympanum (a frieze over the entrance) and decorative capitals (the heads of columns) with scenes from the scriptures in stone relief certainly may exhort the visitor to tread a narrow path, but the uplifting power of Chartres’s 180 exquisite stained glass windows, which reflect the light of God’s grace upon the worshippers in Chartres’s spacious nave (central hallway) and lofty choir, both inspire and delight happy pilgrims of the twenty-first century (Kemp 101). An accurate estimation may be made when the immaterial benefits of Chartres Cathedral are chosen over the flash and utility of modern edifices, and the lasting impact of this Gothic treasure appreciated more fully when viewed in the shadow cast by twentieth and twenty-first century constructions of steel and concrete.

A less imposing, but still grand example of Medieval architecture may be found at Salisbury Cathedral, in England (Janson 338). Salisbury Cathedral sprawls over many acres of English countryside, invoking the spirits of nature as well as those of art in the cultivation of prayer. Much like Chartres Cathedral, Salisbury is home to a host of ornate capitals, devotion-warming friezes, and brilliant stained glass (Kemp 102). The plan of Salisbury Cathedral called for walls much lower than most other churches of the period, lending an air of humility to this otherwise uplifting edifice; however, a very tall crossing (central) tower was added at a later date, guiding the eyes of the worshippers at Salisbury towards the heavens and the throne of the Most High God. The worshippers at Salisbury also enjoy a spacious nave with a vaulted ceiling and a brightly lit choir. The architect of Salisbury cathedral is lost to posterity, but his work remains a testament to the immortal spirit of the Middle Ages and a place for the prayerful repose and inspiration of visitors there today. Certainly, architecture of the Medieval period represented in the form of Salisbury Cathedral surpasses that of the past five decades, and makes many men of the twenty-first century cast glances backwards in time to savor the artistry and charm of this English marvel.

A look at the world of modern architecture leaves much to be desired, both in form and content. Perhaps the fastest growing and most lavish spot on earth for the display of the twenty-first century builder’s skills is the small country of Dubai, on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula. According to Spud Hilton’s article for the San Francisco Chronicle on June 17, 2007,

It (Dubai) is a freak show on an international scale, with attractions and oddities you can't believe exist, but that you can't seem to look away from, and where outlandish projects that others deem too bizarre, too expensive or too impossible fill the skylines, the coastlines and the headlines.

Apparently hosting a plastic surgeon’s office inside a submerged hotel, Dubai is also home to the world’s tallest skyscraper, a theme park bigger than Disney World, and the largest shopping mall on earth (Fox 1). This tiny emirate empire is certainly ambitious and holds much to be desired by the bodies and minds of visitors to Dubai, but where is the soul of this pseudo-Sodom? According to Catherine Fox’s article for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, “Dubai’s unprecedented development…portends a future of environmental and sustainability problems” (Fox 1). Fox’s article also speaks of rioting due to poor wages by the Asian workforce employed in Dubai, and the potential backlash of all this worldliness and levity in the form of terrorist attacks by Islamic extremist groups. When compared with the brilliant, yet tasteful stained glass of Chartres cathedral or the humble and natural, yet elegant outlay of Salisbury, the building craze in Dubai seems like so many pillars of salt: flavorful, yet unable to provide proper nourishment for body or soul. Truly, the current fascination held by some with the building of bigger and better abodes for entertainment and avarice, cannot compare with the abiding devotion held by many for the delicate symmetry of the holy houses built during the Medieval period.

In conclusion, some concessions must be made to the artists and architects of the past fifty years. Many groundbreaking and innovative concepts have come into play in the realms of construction and art with the advent of the technological revolution; computers play a part in not only the design of buildings, but in the production of pieces of fine art as well. To base the assumption that Medieval buildings and pieces of art surpass those of the past fifty years solely on the tools provided to each set of craftsmen would be unfair to those who today hammer out their designs with lasers and keyboards instead of hammers and horse hair paintbrushes. It is not only in this lack of technological crutch-wielding that Medieval art surpasses that of today; it is, in part, the ability of the Medieval artist for long-delayed gratification and patient improvement that sets the productions of their hands ahead of those of craftsmen of the present. Furthermore, much has been said of the spiritual significance of the buildings and art of the Middle Ages, and little or nothing about the ideology behind most present works of art and architecture. Diversity reigns supreme when the fine art and architecture of the past fifty years is considered; buildings for most every purpose and playful notion dot the landscape of Europe and the United States. For at least fifty years, most of the people of the Western World have found entertainment, utility and use in the various structures of North America and Europe. The art of painting also has become highly diverse and has attracted far more dilettantes than masters to pick up brush and palette in the past fifty years, thereby making a cursory knowledge of painting more widespread but diluting the pool of talent possessed by those who attempt to paint. Perhaps it is the singleness of focus, more than any other reason, that drove the artists, artisans and architects of the Middle Ages to create works that surpass those of contemporary craftsmen, and perhaps in that singularity of vision lies the widespread appeal and sense of enjoyment to be found in the art of the Middle Ages by people of the twenty-first century.

Works Cited

Adams, Laurie Schneider. Art Across Time: Volume II. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007.

Fox, Catherine. “Dubai: Big Dreams in the Desert.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

25 June 2006: A1. Newspaper Source. Access World News. Broyhill

Learning and Resource Center, Hudson, NC. 11 December 2007.

http://wf2dnvr8.webfeat.org

Hilton, Spud. “Dubai.” San Francisco Chronicle. 17 June 2007: G1. Newspaper

Source. Access World News. Broyhill Learning and Resource Center,

Hudson, NC. 11 December 2007.

http://wf2dnvr8.webfeat.org

Janson, H.W., Anthony Janson. History of Art: Volume I. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall,

2004.

Kemp, Martin, ed. The Oxford History of Western Art. Oxford: Oxford University

Press, 2000.

Preble, Duane and Sarah Preble. Artforms. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2004.

Fryderyk Chopin

2007-12-04T17:31:00.000-08:00

Fryderyk Chopin: A Short Essay

By

Varo Borja

The romantic era was one fueled and fanned by the winds of change, not only in the governments of Europe and America, but in the world of the arts as well. Hearkening back to the Baroque era in some respects, music, painting, sculpture, and literature began to be infused with emotion and the gilt ornamentation of faraway places once again; music became more complex and literature, painting and the other arts reflected the changing ideas and emotions of a generation nostalgic for its roots. The second Great Awakening and the Industrial Revolution laid the groundwork for an era of artists to become sick with the familiar and to reach out to the distant horizons or deep within themselves for an answer to the maddening world around them. The French Revolution and the American Civil war were only two of the bloodlettings that propelled this feeling as well. In the world of music, new innovations and technologies allowed composers to create music that would shake the very foundations of the world in flux in which they lived. Fryderyk Chopin was born into this changing and growing world with a gift; although Chopin’s body was weak, his heart was strong and deep, full of life and bursting with music. Fryderyk Chopin created music that transcended the barriers of nationality and ability, and although technically difficult, his music was imbued with an emotional quality and depth of character cultivated not only from his Classical and Baroque influences, but from his own struggles with ill-health and sexual relationships.

Fryderyk Chopin was born in the Polish village of Zelazowa Wola on March 1, 1810, to an expatriate Frenchman and a poor, but distinguished Polish noblewoman (Samson, 1996). Chopin probably contracted tuberculosis during his childhood, but he was loved and nurtured not only by his mother and father, but by the Polish people he came in contact with. Chopin had three sisters with whom he was very close; he received his first piano lessons from his sister Ludwika (Orga, 1980). His youngest sister, Emilia, died young from tuberculosis: an ominous foreboding of Chopin’s own death. Ill health kept the young Chopin indoors most of the year, where he was tutored in French by his father Nicholas, and where he began to receive his first formal instruction on the piano by the tutor Wojciech Zywny (Samson, 1996). Young Chopin was heralded as a prodigy by the aficionados in Poland; however, his father kept a tight rein on this kind of talk and while Chopin was still under his care, Nicholas didn’t let the boy become lazy in his studies (Orga, 1980). However, Chopin quickly outstripped his tutor Zywny, of whom he was very fond, and was published as a musician by the tender age of seven; he gave concerts for charitable purposes and became a favorite of several aristocratic families throughout Poland, most notably the Radziwill family (Orga, 1980).

When he was 16, Chopin went on to attend the University of Warsaw under the tutelage of Jozef Elsner; he was so precocious that he was allowed to skip much of the core curriculum and enter the university at a level of advancement beyond his age (Orga, 1980). Young Chopin was finally away from home and able to fully invest himself in his chosen art: music. Chopin made several friends while in attendance at the University, some of who were noted musicians with anti-government leanings such as the young student, Titus Woyciechowski, whom he would keep in correspondence with throughout his short life (Samson, 1996). According to the book, “Chopin” by Jim Samson, “Cafes were forbidden to the University pupils, but (Chopin) and his friends frequented the theatre, and there was a constant run of name day parties, balls and informal dances” (1996, p. 18). The young Chopin was influenced very heavily by the music he heard at these events in Warsaw, and he even took trips to the countryside (probably for his health) where he was familiarized with Polish peasant music (Samson, 1996). Chopin was plagued by fits of coughing, especially in winter, and suffered much from the cold weather of the region. However, he was accorded a high compliment by his professor, Elsner, on finishing his first year at the University; Elsner commented that Chopin possessed a remarkable talent. Traveling to Vienna while in attendance at the University, Chopin gave a concert there of one of his own compositions and was accorded much acclaim; however, he was also criticized for his smallness of tone. This negative review made the young Chopin question his ability to perform in public, and he developed an aversion for public performances, stating later in life that performing in public was “quite disturbing” for him; he much preferred small audiences and composing to large public displays of his work, at least by his own hand (Samson, 1996). Upon completing his last year at Warsaw University, Chopin was honored with the title of "musical genius" by his professor, Jozef Elsner (Samson, 1996).

Not long after graduation from the University, Chopin went to Vienna again with his friend Titus, but Titus returned early to take part in the Polish revolution in which the Congress government was overthrown (Samson, 1996). Russian troops occupied Poland soon thereafter, and Chopin settled in Paris, never to return to his homeland (Samson, 1996). While in Paris, Chopin continued to compose and met the acquaintance of such formidable musicians as Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann; Schumann remarked at Chopin’s first performance in Paris, “Hats off gentlemen! A genius!” (Mullen, 2004, p. 1). Chopin wrote his most famous pieces in Paris, including his “Minute Waltz” and “Funeral March Sonata” (Samson, 1996). Chopin also made the acquaintance of George Sand, a famous female novelist with whom he began a ten-year love affair. Sand and Chopin’s relationship was very turbulent, but Chopin composed prolifically while they were together, with emphasis on Polish themes such as the Polonaise and the mazurka, and short pieces named only for their catalogue numbers such as his Preludes and Etudes (Samson, 1996). The relationship ended over a dispute with Sand’s family, and Chopin died not long thereafter, on October 17, 1849. He was nursed on his deathbed by his sister, Ludwika, and at his behest his heart was sent back to Poland where it resides in the Holy Cross Church in Warsaw (Orga, 1980). Ludwika died six months later (Orga, 1980).

In conclusion, Chopin’s life was one of precocious talent, prodigious composition, stormy health and relationships, and early death. Many people have been greatly affected by Chopin’s music, but there have been some detractors and his music has fallen out of fashion at times. J.W. Davison, a music critic for the London Times, thoroughly denounced Chopin’s music when he said, “Compared with Berlioz, Chopin was a morbidly sentimental flea by the side of a roaring lion” (Yudkin, 2008). My reaction was somewhat different on hearing Chopin for the first time. I wrote this statement for my blog, “Tanzanian Peaberry” on December 8, 2006 when I was first introduced to Chopin’s preludes,

Up, down, down to the depths of the sea and all inside a gilded box. Tighter and tighter and back again, soaring and plummeting the sweat and the tears flowing but so reserved, the gentleman and his fiery steed, the fox and the bear and the unending struggle for air, just a breath of air and the sea, the sea. Bent upon the keyboard grand spectacle and faster, faster flows the fire unquenchable. Phillistines bowing before the God of heaven and the ark of the covenant and the Crimea snow covered and deathlike. FASTER, FASTER, spin the planets and suck the big bang into a ball, singularity becoming tinier and tinier and then silence. Cheers of the multitude. Death on a Sunday. The Queen bows and places the crown at the feet of a beggar, and silence. Silence.

At the time I had no idea that Chopin was afflicted with tuberculosis during his life and died young, or that he had ever been accused of being too “reserved”, which he was by a great many detractors. I also had no idea that Chopin had been presented to Queen Victoria or heard any of the rumors that she had become his pupil (Orga, 1980). Chopin’s music said it all. It was in his ability for expression and the depth of his sonorous meanderings on the piano that Chopin deserved the acclaim he received in his day, but it is in his ability to speak to the listener of today and his still far-reaching appeal that Chopin has earned a place among the greatest musicians of all time.

References

Mullen, A. (January, 2004). In search of Chopin. Hudson Review, 56,
695.
Orga, A. (1980). Chopin: His Life and Times. Neptune City, NJ: Paganiniana
Publications.
Samson, J. (1996). Chopin. New York: Schirmer Books.
Yudkin, J. (2008). Understanding Music. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

The Stars of Ishmael

2007-12-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

The Stars of Ishmael: An Essay on Parenting in the Islamic World

By

Varo Borja

And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. Genesis 15: 4-5

For nigh on 1500 years, the Muslim faith has given purpose and direction to millions of people, inspiring some to become great and no few to become notorious. Modern Islam holds sway over most of North Africa and parts of Asia, with an estimated worldwide membership in 1996 of 1,482,596,925 people (“Islam is the fastest…”). This statistic is apropos when compared to the words of Yahweh to an aged Abram, found in the above quote from the Bible. Muslims trace their descent from Ishmael, or Abram’s son, by his Egyptian concubine Hagar. It is written that the Angel of the Lord said unto Hagar,

I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him. (Holy Bible, Gen. 16: 10-13)

This passage is quite prophetic, considering the recent events in the Middle East and the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York. Another view into the causes for such violence, in accordance with the words of the angel, might be found upon examining the parenting practices of people within the Muslim faith. In the current Islamic world, tradition and tragedy play almost equal parts in the parenting process and the development of children who are raised there; these two factors are the chief causes of a generation of Muslims growing up with anti-social attitudes and extremist world views.

Tradition plays the primary role in the parenting of Islamic children and mixes sound child-rearing practices with anachronistic methods; these methods may cause discord in the nuclear family and hinder the proper development of Islamic children. Families, and especially fathers, are bound by the Qu’ran and the Sharia, or Islamic law to raise their children in accordance with the principles of Allah (Fernea 6). The role of the father is of utmost importance in the Islamic family, and in most cases his guidance will determine the course of a child's life. With an ever increasing negative outlook held by Islamic men of the West and the doctrines espoused by non-Muslims, children in Islamic countries are raised, generally, to both fear and distrust people outside their faith (Dudley 73). The Islamic mother provides nurture and nourishment to the children in poorer households, but the role of women is almost exclusively passive and subjugated to the father's will (Dudley 115). Also, in poor Islamic households, the elder brothers and sisters of infants help to raise the children, but like most of the impoverished families of the world, education is mostly denied to these children, leaving them more susceptible to fundamentalist and extremist influences (Fernea 88). Even when children in Islamic countries are educated, much of the curriculum provided by Islamic schools is fraught with fundamentalist ideologies and anti-western undertones (Reforms 1). Nannies are also frequent in the more opulent strata of Islamic society and sometimes have great influence over their charges. Nannies are taken traditionally from the poorer classes of society, and many times they are uneducated and hold fundamentalist beliefs; many times they adopt the hijab, or sacred veil mandated by Sharia law and hold with scorn the Westernized women who don’t adopt traditional codes of dress (Brooks 20). These traditional elements of Islamic culture concerning the raising of children, although rooted in tradition and accepted by the majority of Islamic society, are part of the fundamental causes for the rift between Muslim culture and the rest of the world.

In addition to draconian laws concerning dress and manners, the threat of a husband taking more than one wife is a constant worry for Islamic mothers, and can produce feelings of jealousy and discord within the family unit (Fernea 11). To quote the Qu’ran as regards the status of the Islamic woman, “Women shall with justice have rights similar to those exercised against them, although men have a status above women. God is mighty and wise” (Dudley 115). Islamic marriage is also very easy to abandon, at least by men. According to Voula, a feminist scholar from Australia, “Under Sharia – Islamic law – a man can marry up to four wives. He can divorce his wife or wives by saying, ‘I divorce you’ three times. For a wife to obtain a divorce is usually very difficult” (Dudley 115). Divorce puts a tremendous strain on the children of Islamic families, much as it does wherever divorce is present. How could an Islamic child not feel stress, when his or her mother could easily be replaced by as many as up to four other women, all as easily as the child’s father uttering a simple phrase three times in row? The Islamic traditions concerning marriage are another underlying cause of the anti-social outlook held, especially by young Muslim men, of the West and western traditions; the empowerment of women in the West is directly at odds with Muslim law.

Another tradition which implicitly causes the healthy foundations of Islamic children to be undermined, is the Sharia law prohibiting adoption (Fernea 45). Sharia law concerning adoption was first propounded by Muhammad, but was exercised and implemented largely during the caliphate of Umar (Fernea 45). An important case study was conducted by Willis Witter of the Washington Times into the madrasses, or the orphanage/schools present in modern day Pakistan. His findings were alarming, considering that about half of the madrasses in Pakistan are run by the Deobandi, or Taliban connected branch of Islam (Witter 1). Witter interviewed a fifteen-year-old student of one of the Deobandi run madrasses in Lahore, Pakistan, and inquired about the boy’s feelings on the concept of Jihad, or Muslim holy war. The boy replied, “It is my wish to do that, to defend Islam by the grace of God” (1). Witter went on to relate that fundamentalist doctrine-inspired violence, even by young girls, was encouraged by the Red Mosque madrass in Islamabad, with tactics such as beating and kidnapping in the young girls’ repertoire, and an attack against a western educational institution in the guise of black-clad assassins topping the list (2). An even more startling estimate was made by analysts quoted by Witter, “Estimates of the student population in Pakistan’s madrasses range from 600,000 to nearly 2 million, while estimates of the number of madrasses range from 12,000 to nearly 30,000” (2). While all the children in the Pakistani madrasses are not orphans, abandoned or neglected children make up a sizeable percentage of the students of these terrorist prep schools, with most of the other portion of students hailing from families with low incomes and high illiteracy rates; every member of the Taliban government in Afghanistan was indoctrinated in the madrasses of Pakistan (Witter 2). Witter also quoted United States Representative John Tierney, who said, “Will we be safe over the next five, ten or twenty years as thousands – perhaps millions – more kids learn jihad at extremist madrasses instead of learning real-world skills to become productive citizens in their communities?” In the wake of the violence propagated by these orphans, and the thousands of ruined lives left behind by the maelstrom of fundamentalist fervor, the Muslim tradition of banning adoption seems quite anachronistic indeed. This inability of such a large group of Islamic children to belong to a family propels them, much like neglected or abandoned children in America, to belong to something. The fundamentalist Pakistani madrasses provide this sense of belonging to these neglected sons and daughters of Islam, once again confirming that tradition in the Muslim world, in this case concerning adoption, causes Muslim children to grow up with anti-social attitudes and extremist world views.

Tragedy in the Islamic world is commonplace, and includes scenes of the most abhorrent violence and a daily struggle in some Islamic countries to acquire even the most rudimentary articles of civilized life. In Lebanon, sect-based violence is common. The region around Beirut has been torn by war and famine now for more than two decades. In the April 21st, 2001 edition of the Economist, the author describes a rocket attack by the Israeli military as a reaction against an Israeli soldier who was killed by Hezbollah militants (Economist 1). The article goes on to relate that at the time, Lebanon was forced to host a brutish Syrian army that both damaged the country’s economy and incurred wrath not only from Israel, but from the wealthy Christians who also reside there (Economist 2). Furthermore, as the home for the militant Palestinian group Hezbollah, Lebanon is in a constant state of preparedness for violence, which causes undue stress and economic depravation for the many families residing in the region (Economist 2). In Palestine, sporadic violence has occurred between Islamist militants and the Israeli government for more than thirty years. In the March 22nd, 2002 issue of the children’s awareness magazine, Time for Kids, Jamil Hamad interviewed a nine-year-old girl from Beit Jala, a Palestinian village near Bethlehem. The girl related, “If I said I don’t get scared by Israeli tanks, I would be lying. I am scared of the tanks and the planes and bombing. My home in Beit Jala was shelled last May and destroyed. We ran away from the house and we saw it burning behind us. I will never forget that! Now we live in a rented apartment in Bethlehem, near Dheishe Refugee Camp, while our house in Beit Jala is being repaired” (2). The same article states that in the year and a half preceding the issue’s publication, 1,400 lives were claimed by violence between the Israelis and Palestinians living in the West Bank; clearly this figure enumerates over a thousand tragedies, but the words of the young girl from Beit Jala exemplify more clearly the tragic causes underlying the desperate outlooks held by many young Palestinians (Time for Kids 2). The violence inherent in the conflict between Palestinians or Lebanese and Israelis also makes healthy parenting for most Islamic residents of the region nearly impossible, and once again engenders anti-social attitudes in the children of the region, especially against the government of the United States, which is the major supporter of Israeli military policy.

In the Sudan, warring tribes and Islamic fundamentalists have created an environment of constant violence and oppressive tactics for more than ten years. In the May 5th, 2004 edition of Markets Monitor magazine, the author states, “Although talks continue, the prospects for sustainable peace in the Sudan are currently low. Despite the signing of a short-term, renewable ceasefire in the western Darfur region, observers from the U.S., UN and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) report that the violence continues, with an estimated 10,000 deaths and nearly a million people displaced” (2). How could the proper nurture, education, and development of the children of the Sudan take place with such widespread violence and chaos present in the region? The article goes on to give the statistics of the combatants of the Sudan, with Muslims making up seventy percent of those waging a sectarian war of genocide within the country (Markets Monitor 2). In addition to viewing the possible death, mutilation, or rape of his/her family, the average Sudanese child suffers from the economic depredations of civil war, causing these children to both fear and hate not only those people of different religious ideologies, but also those of his/her own faith. The Islamic demographic of the Sudan is broken into three equally hostile, warring fragments: Arab Muslims, African Muslims, and Beja Muslims (Markets Monitor 2). In a more subtle manner, tragedy causes the anti-social and extremist outlooks of the Islamic children of the region, as parents in the Sudan pass down to their children the animosities and resentments for past harms done that these mothers and fathers hold for Sudanese sects of differing faith or ideology.

In Iraq, the Baathist regime under Sadaam Hussein was a mix of Mafia-like administration and anti-Shi'ite tyrrany; now that the Baathist regime has fallen, insurgent violence still persists, creating a chaotic and depraved existence for the indigenous families of the region. Two examples of the atrocities committed through insurgent violence in Iraq were offered by the Houston Chronicle, in the November 22, 2007 issue. The headline reads, “The Iraqi police on Wednesday discovered a mass grave near Ramadi with at least forty bodies, some of them children, and a suicide car bomb exploded inside the city near a courthouse, killing at least six people and wounding eight” (Cave 1). The article also quotes Lt. General James M. Dubik, head of the U.S. department for the training of Iraqi police, who stated, “While the security situation is much better now than in previous months, the enemies of security in Iraq still have the capacity and desire for ruthless attacks…the war is not over” (Cave 1). The phrase “enemies of security” is interesting. Do the insurgent mothers and fathers of Iraqi children realize they are fighting a war against their own security? Is the promulgation of extremist Muslim doctrine worth the future security, nay the very future, of a generation of Iraqi children? These are difficult questions for many Muslim parents, who are traditionally bound to continue the fight and who are inured to lives of brutality from the years of unbridled violence that is the legacy of the Islamic jihad.

In conclusion, an important note must be made in regard to the Qu’ran and the many interpretations of that venerable document. As in the west, opinions run to extremes in Muslim societies when holy writ is in question, but Islamic culture is not solely one of bloodthirsty jihadists and crazed caliphs. Contrary to some ideas held by Westerners, many Muslims love peace, education, and diversity, and uphold these ideals to the best of their abilities; many Muslims are educated in the West and carry democratic precepts back to their native lands (Dudley 42). Some even argue that the Qu’ran supports peaceful relations with the non-Muslim world and is no obstacle towards a westernizing of the Middle East (Dudley 21). Qu’ranic interpretation is a matter for Muslim scholars, but the beauty and power of Qu’ranic verse is undeniable. Upon perusal, one set of verses stands out in regard to children in the Middle East. The stanza reads, “By the sky and the Wayfarer, and what will let you know what the Wayfarer is? The penetrating star. There is no soul without a guardian over it” (The Qu’ran, 85: 3-5). Clearly an exhortation to trust in a Higher Power rather than their finite selves, this verse also gives Muslim children the reassurance that there is One who presides over them and guards them while the stars light up the desert sky. In the midst of internal strife, war, religious debate, and economic failure, Muslim children may look to the Power beyond the book, much like children in the West or any other nation of the Earth. Ultimately, it is in this determination to see the benevolence of God, the good in mankind, and the positive aspects of the world in which they live, that could serve as the panacea to the roots of the anti-social world view from which Muslim children, and the culture as a whole, have suffered. Also, a clearer observance of the goodness of God and His ubiquitous authority could aid Muslim parents in their quest to not only raise healthy, happy children, but to see them mature into peaceful citizens of the planet and put an end to the sufferings of many people in the Middle East. Unfortunately, tradition and tragedy persist in the Islamic world, and remain the chief causes of conflict for the majority of a generation of young men and women bent upon extremism and ideological isolation from the rest of the world.

Works Cited

Brooks, Geraldine. Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women.
Random House: New York, 1995.
Cave, Damien. “40 Bodies in Mass Grave.” The Houston Chronicle 22 Nov. 2007: A22.
Newspaper Source. NewsBank. Broyhill Learning Resource Center, Hudson,
NC. 27 Nov. 2007 http://wf2dnvr8.webfeat.org/
“The Curse of Strong Friends.” The Economist 21 April. 2001: Vol. 359, Issue 8218.
EBSCO. Broyhill Learning Resource Center, Hudson, NC. 27 November 2007
http://wf2dnvr8.webfeat.org/
Dudley, William, ed. Islam: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven Press: San Diego, 2004.
Fernea, Elizabeth Warnock, ed. Children in the Muslim Middle East. University of
Texas Press: Austin, 1995.
Hamad, Jamil. “Will They Find a Path to Peace?” Time for Kids 22 March 2002: Vol. 7,
Issue 21. EBSCO. Broyhill Learning Resource Center, Hudson, NC. 27
November 2007 http://wf2dnvr8.webfeat.org/
The Holy Bible. King James Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1973.
“Islam is the Fastest Growing Religion and the Second Largest Religion
In the World.” Islamicweb.com. 1996. 27 November 2007.
http://islamicweb.com/begin/results.htm
The Qur’an. Trans. Thomas Cleary. United States of America: Starlatch, 2004.
“Sudan Violence Continues.” Emerging Markets Monitor 10 May 2004: Vol. 10.
Issue 5, p 18. EBSCO. Broyhill Learning Resource Center, Hudson, NC.
27 November 2007 http://wf2dnvr8.webfeat.org/
Witter, Willis. “Reforms Fail to Stick to Many Madrassas.” The Washington Times
6 November 2007: A1. Newspaper Source. Newsbank. Broyhill Learning
Resource Center, Hudson, NC. 27 November 2007 http://wf2dnvr8.webfeat.org/

Egyptian Art

2007-11-20T22:08:00.000-08:00

The Amarna Style
By
Varo Borja

The reign of Amenhotep IV was a phenomenon. His revolutionary crusade to unite Egypt under one god, Aten, changed the course of Egyptian civilization and drastically altered the artistic style of the period. In this short essay I will attempt to define the Amarna style and contrast it with the older order of the Egyptian pharaohs. I will also give background information on Amenhotep's revolutionary life and how it affected Ancient Egypt.

Amenhotep IV was the son of Amenhotep III, and he came to rule Egypt in 1348 B.C. His father, Amenhotep III had venerated the sun disk, Aten, and had promoted its worship against the wishes of the predominant cult of Amun. The priests of Amun had grown over the years to have extreme weatlh and power, and the pharaohs had resented this. Therefore, when Amenhotep IV received the scepter, he destroyed the temples of the god Amun and even went so far as to erase the name of Amun from the public records. Amnehotep IV then moved his kingdom to the city Tel el' Amarna and changed his name to Akhenaten, which means, "effective for the Aten." Akhenaten and his wife, Nefertiti, ruled there until 1336 B.C., at which time Akhenaten died and, according to some sources, Nefertiti took up the throne.

The style set forth by the Amarna artists is very different from the art of the dynasties before them. The Amarna style is very fluid, as exemplified by the limestone relief, Akhenaten and His Family, found at the top of the page. The Amarna style, headed by Thutmose, the King's head master, was much more perosnal and lighthearted than the style of the Old Kingdom. In the Old Kingdom, busts were done in a very rigid fashion, displaying the Pharaohs as being very muscular and stoic, as in the statue of Khafre from Giza, c. 2500 B.C. The reliefs and statues from the Amarna period display Akhenaten and Nefertiti as having long, spindly arms and free-flowing facial features. The Amarna style is certainly less stuffy and more compassionate, whereas the Old Kingdom style is more conservative and reserved. Thutmose, Akhenaten's "favorite master of works" was the first Egyptian sculptor that modern scholars have been able to identify as having a particular style. His limestone sculpture of Nefertiti is one of the most elegant pieces from antiquity, but it remained unfinished and was left behind in his workshop when he moved to Memphis after the death of Akhenaten in 1336 B.C.

In conclusion, the art of the Amarna period is something of an anomaly. Akhenaten's spiritual revolution changed Egyptian culture and art for years thereafter, and it remains, in my humble opinion, some of the best art from antiquity. Akhenaten was succeeded by Tutankhamen, who reinstated the worship of the god Amun, as is evidenced by his name. However, Tutankhamen did not abolish the creative genius that was evident during the Amarna period, as displayed by works he commissioned such as Workmen Carrying a Beam. The same organic and lifelike figures inhabit this relief, as they did in the Amarna period. Although lacking some of the playfulness and compassion of the Amarna pieces, this relief is a testimony to the far-reaching effects of Amenhotep IV's spiritual and creative revolution.

Pioneers and Pedantry

2007-11-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

Pioneers and Pedantry: The Turner Thesis and Its Relevance in 21^st Century America
By
Varo Borja

In former songs Pride have I sung, and Love, and passionate, joyful Life,

But here I twine the strands of Patriotism

And Death. – Walt Whitman

The frontier in American history has been a source of inspiration, debate, and propaganda throughout the past two centuries since it has become a relevant topic. The Turner Thesis is but one document stating the importance of the Western frontier in America; we are to find this construct throughout our culture here in the United States. From the cowboy substrata still present in much of the South and found on CMT, to the fascination our current president has with playing Us vs. Them with the rest of the world in a circled-wagons, fight till the death, prolifically ignorant struggle to hog-tie the United and rogue Nations of the Earth into submission. The Turner Thesis stated, in grandiloquent terms, the overriding importance the Western frontier played in the early and adolescent development of the United States of America. In this essay I will attempt to relate some of the points stated by the Turner Thesis, and provide counterpoint to these assumptions from my own views and from two scholars who criticized, not only the relevance of Turner’s argument, but the very foundations upon which it was based.

Turner began his thesis by stating that, “Behind institutions, behind constitutional forms and modifications, lie the vital forces that call these organs into life and shape them to meet changing conditions. The peculiarity of American institutions is, the fact that they have been compelled to adapt themselves to the changes of an expanding people--to the changes involved in crossing a continent, in winning a wilderness, and in developing at each area of this progress out of the primitive economic and political conditions of the frontier into the complexity of city life. Said Calhoun in 1817, "We are great, and rapidly--I was about to say fearfully--growing!" (Turner, 1) This is quite a grand assumption, and not without merit. The westward expansion of the people of the United States of America certainly was filled with new and wonderful experiences for those who were brave enough to undertake the journey. Many of the people who pushed westward were of either Scotch-Irish or German heritage, and felt no love for the machinations of the English-style republic growing to fruition with the backing of the southern Tidewater elite and the Yankee traders of dubious Puritan heritage. Turner also states that, “The frontier is the line of most rapid and effective Americanization. The wilderness masters the colonist. It finds him a European in dress, industries, tools, modes of travel, and thought. It takes him from the railroad car and puts him in the birch canoe. It strips off the garments of civilization and arrays him in the hunting shirt and the moccasin. It puts him in the log cabin of the Cherokee and Iroquois and runs an Indian palisade around him. Before long he has gone to planting Indian corn and plowing with a sharp stick, he shouts the war cry and takes the scalp in orthodox Indian fashion. In short, at the frontier the environment is at first too strong for the man. He must accept the conditions which it furnishes, or perish, and so he fits himself into the Indian clearings and follows the Indian trails. Little by little he transforms the wilderness, but the outcome is not the old Europe, not simply the development of Germanic germs, any more than the first phenomenon was a case of reversion to the Germanic mark. The fact is, that here is a new product that is American.” So, according to Turner, the man who emerged from the wilds, wielding both tomahawk and pointed plow was a new creation: a self-reliant, and self-governing American. However, what shaped these primeval urges for rebellion, autonomy, and adventure? Was it not, at least in the case of the Scots-Irish pioneers, the love of free land and the age-old desire for self-government found in the lowland Scots as early as the twelfth century? The Scots had always fought off the mantle of English government and were bred with an intense dislike of Whitehall and its machinations. There were, of course, many Scots who had relinquished freedom to the English for land and title, but they were not to be found on the American frontier. No, the Scots-Irish of the American West were the poor souls who had come to this country with nothing more than a dram and a dream; they had an innate desire for land upon which they could farm and raise prodigious families, and they were heady with the fresh air of freedom from indentured servitude and English hegemony. However, the political philosophies adopted by those same pioneers were nothing new. According to Benjamin F. Wright, Jr. the system of government adopted by the westerners was, “Imitative, not creative. They were not interested in making experiments. Their constitutional, like their domestic, architecture, was patterned after that of the communities from which they had moved westward. However different their life during the period of frontier existence may have been from that of the older communities, they showed no substantial desire to retain its primitive characteristics when they established laws and constitutions of their own choice.” (The Turner Thesis, 64). So, in effect, Mr. Wright says that the torrid frontier conditions shaped nothing new in terms of government; the pioneers brought with them the same political constructs and ideologies that had been shaped and set into place on the Atlantic seaboard, if not in Old Europe.

Turner went on to state in his thesis that the movement of ideologies and culture flowed backwards from the frontier to the Atlantic seaboard. He named such statesmen as Andrew Jackson and others who had a great impact on this country during its early adolescent period, and even later personages such as Abraham Lincoln who, fresh from splitting rails, attempted to stay the schism of the Union. Turner did give place in his thesis for the overwhelming impact of the middle states and the Scots-Irish and German peoples who issued from there into the gulf of the West to take up residence in a leap-frog fashion; the pioneer would clear the land and cultivate it for a period of time, and then move on westward once the men of capital came close to develop the area further. (The Turner Thesis, 15) In a rebuttal to the thesis published in 1940, George Wilson Pierson, a Yale scholar long familiar with the Turner Thesis stated, “For how shall we account for the Industrial Revolution? By the Frontier? Do American Music and Architecture come from the woods? Did American Cattle? Were our religions born of the contemplation of untamed nature? Has science, poetry, or even democracy, its cradle in the wilderness?” (The Turner Thesis, 70) This is a very good question, considering all these disciplines and goods came from Old Europe primarily, and not from the Western wilderness. Another apropos statement was made by a more modern critic of the Turner Thesis in 1946 by Carlton J.H. Hayes, a devoted scholar in his own right and one time U.S. ambassador to Spain. He stated, “If we belonged to a Moslem or Confucian culture, or to a purely indigenous one, we would not have the mores which we have. We would not, for instance, be free on Sundays for church or for golf or for surreptitious privacy in library and laboratory. Probably we would not use knives or forks, and we would wear different clothes.” (The Turner Thesis, 109) Mr. Hayes also reminds us that we as Americans, just because a frontier existed once in this country where there were “savages” of a sort, and the people of this country were influenced by conversation and close proximity with them, that that very conversation and close relations did not make us “into” them any more than we are made into a country of Asiatic origins because of international trade with Japan. (The Turner Thesis, 110) Mr. Hayes goes on to warn that the idea of cultural and physical isolationism propounded by Mr. Turner through his thesis was and is dangerous to this country because we are surrounded by a world from which we came, and which we must still reach out to if we are to exist as a nation ad infinitum. However, Mr. Hayes is not a universalist; he makes that quite clear in his statements against a willy-nilly, heady idealism found in part four of his essay. (The Turner Thesis, 111)

In conclusion, I feel it is important to state the views of one of the many defenders of the Turner Thesis. Avery Craven, a one-time student of Dr. Turner’s and a professor of American History at Chicago University quoted Thomas Jefferson in his attempted refutation of the claims that Dr. Turner’s essay was “worthless”, or at least no longer relevant. The quote reads as follows, “Let a philosophic observer commence a journey from the savages of the Rocky Mountains, eastwardly toward our seacoast. These (the Indians) he would observe in the earliest stage of association living under no law but that of nature, subsisting and covering themselves with the flesh and skins of wild beasts. He would next find these on our frontiers in the pastoral state, raising domestic animals to supply the defects of hunting. Then succeed to our own semibarbarous citizens, the pioneers of the advance civilization, and so in his progress he would meet the gradual improved state in our seaport towns. This, in fact, is equivalent to a survey, in time, of the progress of man from the infancy of creation, to the present day.” (The Turner Thesis, 128) Dr. Craven went on to state that although misunderstood, and certainly misrepresented at times by his critics, Dr. Turner was a deliberate and thorough researcher who was not only hampered by the times in which he lived, but was open to criticism, as long as that criticism contained the seeds of truth and helped to further the knowledge of mankind. Frederick Jackson Turner’s magnum opus, although certainly narrow in scope in regards to today’s research, was very influential and helped to build the sense of self that the United States as a body politic lacked after the Civil War and the years of the Reconstruction South. Those times were riddled with internal strife, sectional hatred and outright embarrassment on the part of many Americans. If nothing else, Dr. Turner’s thesis could be seen as a type of salve for the wounds of a healing nation. However, Mr. Carlton Hayes’s statements prove the more prophetic in that we as a nation still insist on isolating ourselves from other cultures and creeds, and we rely too heavily on the myth constructed at places like Little Big Horn, The Alamo, and Wake Island (Fatal Environment, 10). Too many of us see the rest of the world as enemies with different colored skin or different gods, or divergent dress and foreign customs. A closer look reveals these very same attributes applied to us by other nations with, at different times, more accuracy. Other frontiers have existed for the peoples of the Earth that have engendered in them nationalistic tendencies and bold, self-aggrandizement: The interiors of the South American and African continents for example. Also, in a metaphorical sense, a religious frontier existed for the Islamic peoples of the Middle East in the coming of Islam nearly 1500 years ago and the development of a strained, but viable brotherhood under the prophet Muhammad. Where we, as United States citizens go awry is not in the esteem with which we hold our own sense of self and the importance of our own conquered frontier. Where we overstep our bounds is when we try to enforce our sense of supremacy and our self-centered egoism on the rest of the world through subversion and outright force. The people of the United States forget all too well that this type of force was attempted on us not too long ago by a “superior” nation who thought it had our best interests at heart, and with dire consequences. So, the relevance of Dr. Turner’s thesis lies in its ability to bolster the self-esteem and legitimate pride of a nation made up of people from all hemispheres, but not as an ideological weapon to be used to alienate and isolate us from countries and cultures just as proud and certainly as viable as our own.

Works Cited:

The Turner Thesis: Concerning the Role of the Frontier in American History, Third Edition. Edited and with an introduction by George Rogers Taylor, Amherst College: D.C. Heath and Company. Lexington, Massachusetts. 1972.

The Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner. Found at: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/TURNER/

Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization 1800-1890. Richard Slotkin: Harper-Perennial, New York, New York. 1985.

Bread, Circuses and BET

2007-11-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

Bread, Circuses and BET

Varo Borja

We bring the bald lecher – the legions of Julius Caesar

The Roman Empire was a far-reaching, famously feared and complex organism. Before the Empire, in the days of the Republic, men of honor and ability graced the halls of the Roman senate with splendid oratories and diatribes, calling all citizens of the Republic who possessed intelligence and courage to great deeds. These illustrious senators also fought at the head of the Roman legions, conquering vast expanses of territory and furthering the interests of their fellow countrymen. Then, after the ascension of Augustus, a great empire was born, encompassing most of the known world; stretching from Spain to the Tigris-Euphrates river the Roman Eagle cast its shadow upon a world of toiling slaves, sturdy yeomen, and a luxuriant caste of persons who knew neither toil nor want. In the modern age, another eagle casts its shadow upon the Earth: the bald eagle of the United States of America. Born a republic and reluctantly, after a long period of isolationism, thrust into the forefront of global politics, this final superpower conceived under the auspices of liberty and justice seeks hegemony over the race of man. Through suggestion, sanctions, and outright subversion, the United States of America maintains its place at the head of the global machine. In the near or distant future, will the United States of America collapse, as Arnold J. Toynbee said, “by suicide, and not by murder”? (Dreher, 1) This remains to be seen, if not by our generation, then maybe by some future race of Americans. The Roman Empire fell amidst the fires lit by their neighbors the Goths, but the same flames were fueled by 400 years of licentious decline and outright cowardice. The moral armor of the Roman Empire was pierced with the arrows of pride, greed, gluttony and sloth. The once illustrious senators and noble patricians of the Republic were gone. They were replaced by a clan of self-interested, self-indulgent princes who cared neither for the austerity of toil for the good of their fellow citizens, or even for the defense of a bloated, but shrinking dominion from which they drew their incomes and pleasures. The United States of America has not wasted away to the extent of the late Roman Empire. However, the United States of America and the late Roman Empire have three broad characteristics in common that could, as in the case of the latter, lead to the eventual collapse of the United States and end life in America as we know it today.

The first characteristic that both empires have in common is the quality of the characters of their respective citizens. Citizens of the Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D. were copious gluttons, and they were both slothful and avaricious. Furthermore, they were loath to participate in government, and left its machinations to the “weak and distracted” (Gibbon, 663). Roman citizens also betrayed their fellow countrymen and “exploited public goods” (Dreher, 3) for their own purposes. From the time of the Julio-Claudian emperors, such disgusting public spectacles as the use of vomitoriums (public binging and purging houses) and the dispersal of massive quantities of bread to the mob at large gatherings were commonplace. Citizens of the United States of America in the 21^st century are also greedy, lazy and gluttonous. Voter turnout in the twenty-first century is negligible compared to that of the early 20^th century. Civil litigation is just as prevalent or more commonplace in the United States today than it was in the Roman Empire. According to insideprison.com, “The term ‘lawsuit abuse’ was first defined in the early 1990’s”. Many residents of the United States of America would rather sue their neighbors than carve out an existence by their own labors. Also, according to insideprison.com, “in 2002, civil lawsuits cost the U.S. economy a reeling 233 billion dollars.” This statistic is staggering considering the U.S. gross domestic product for the year 2002 was 9.5 trillion dollars (USA.gov); this means that two percent of the entire GDP for the United States of America was eaten up with civil disputes in the year 2002. Although some, if not most of these suits were legitimate, this disturbing statistic still reflects badly upon the land where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness supposedly underpin a society of industrious and benevolent, freedom seeking citizens. Another truly upsetting fact reveals itself when examining the GDP statistics for the year 2002: more income was generated through civil litigation than through the industry of agriculture. According to statistics found on USA.gov, a paltry 164 billion dollars was produced by the agricultural sector in this country in 2002: a little less than half what the deluge of civil lawsuits that year cost the federal economy. This is a startling fact, considering the decline of agriculture within the Roman Empire coincided with the decline of civilization. To quote Edward Gibbon once again, “Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures; since the productions of nature are the materials of art” (Gibbon, 48). It is also common knowledge that obesity runs rampant in the United States, and eating disorders abound, while much of the rest of the planet struggles to maintain even the most minimal diet. Citizens of the United States gorge themselves at Golden Corral and Taco Bell and then some of the diners immediately retire to restrooms to vomit up their extravagant meals, while the residents of East Africa and parts of Asia die by the millions for lack of proper nutrition.

Another disparaging aspect of the characters of both civilizations is the lack of zeal present for the defense of their respective, over-extended dominions. Roman citizens of rank in the fifth century A.D. spurned military service in favor of empty official titles and the pleasures of the symposium. The Roman army was overstretched and under-staffed, and therefore unable to defend its prodigious borders. Potential military talent was wasted as the old families of Rome cowered in their estates and left the protection of the empire to mercenaries and foreigners. 21^st century Americans support their military from the sidelines with yellow ribbons and Toby Keith inspired flag-waving, but few citizens in this country sign up for military service. Charles Moskos, a former professor at Northwestern University, noted in Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel’s article for the Los Angeles Times in December of 2006, that “of his 1956 Princeton University class of 750 men, 450 served (in the military). In the Princeton University class of 2006 there were 1,108 men and women, but only nine so far have joined the military” (Barnes and Spiegel, 3). Apparently, the Ivy League patricians of the U.S. aren’t as willing to defend this country as their forefathers were. The United States Army struggled to meet its goals for enlistment in the years 2004 and 2005, and according to the Barnes and Spiegel article, the army was willing to give exorbitant incentives for anyone under the age of 40 who would sign up for active service (Barnes and Spiegel, 3). Isn’t this a form of hiring a class of warriors to defend that which most of us are either too lazy, or too cowardly to defend? With such negative statistics as these confronting Americans today while we are in the midst of two overseas conflicts, an easy comparison may be made to the days of Rome when the outposts on the Rhine and the Danube went unmanned, and the Gothic barbarians trumpeted their entry into the age-old capital of a once proud empire. A more embarrassing fact may be noted when the military service records of the last two presidents of the United States are examined; the former president of the United States evaded the draft imposed by Congress during the Vietnam War, and the current Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the United States used family connections within the Federal government to evade active duty during the Vietnam conflict in favor a rear-echelon post in the States.

The second characteristic present in both empires that could lead to the eventual destruction of the United States is the content of their warped and highly self-indulgent cultures. The late Roman Empire featured a policy of Bread and Circuses, or an attempt to distract and sate the lust of the populace with material goods and horribly violent spectacles. Gladiatorial combats featured two or more opponents who fought to the death for the amusement of the mob. Horse races and exotic animals from obscure locales re-directed the attention of the denizens of Rome away from the ever-present threats of invasion from the Danube and Rhine sectors, and the potential assassination of whomever wore the purple of imperator at the moment. To quote Gibbon once again, “A people who still remembered that their ancestors had been the masters of the world would have applauded, with conscious pride, the representation of ancient freedom, if they had not long since been accustomed to prefer the solid assurance of bread to the unsubstantial visions of liberty and greatness” (Gibbon Vol. II, 85). Twenty-first century America has adopted economic policies that favor goods for the present, and a sedentary, television centered lifestyle. According to the California State University, Northridge website, “the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube” (www.csun.edu). This is a very disturbing statistic, considering American families lose 9 years worth of bonding and development; civic duties and religious affiliations fall by the wayside 2 months out of the year. Reality television composes much of what is broadcast in the United States today, and engenders feelings of self-hatred, exorbitant spending on the part of the viewers to become like those viewed, and a cynical, self-centered view of life in the modern age. Also, we Americans have our own brands of gladiatorial combat: WWE wrestling and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Self-indulgence may also be found in the homes of many Americans who sit for hours in front of computer screens or Xbox monitors. According to the Canada Review of American Studies, “The video- and computer-game industry generated a profit of US$6.35 billion in 2001, earnings greater than those of either Hollywood films or pornography and, in the entertainment field, second only to those of the music industry. It is estimated that 60 per cent of all Americans regularly play computer or video games;¹ 42 per cent of them are women; the median age of gamers is twenty-eight.² The production budgets for computer games now regularly run into the tens of millions of dollars, and the creation of a single game may involve a team of designers, actors, programmers, and musicians that rivals in size some film production crews” (muse.jhu.edu). With all this technological deterioration in the homes of American families, it is quite easy to relate this type of societal decay to the Bread and Circuses policies of the late Roman Empire.

Furthermore, religion in the late Roman Empire was a state-mandated form of Christianity that lacked the vigor, self-sacrifice and courage displayed by the early followers of Christ. Petty squabbles over doctrine and the clambering for crumbs of power from the table of Constantine wreaked havoc on the religious lives of Roman citizens. To quote Gibbon once again, “Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty, was successfully practised; honours, gifts, and immunities were offered and accepted as the price of an episcopal vote; and the condemnation of the Alexandrian primate was artfully represented as the only measure which could restore the peace and union of the catholic church” (Gibbon, 706). Many faiths abound within the borders of the United States, but an increasingly secular worldview, lackluster religious observance, and recent scandals associated with religious leaders have dampened what was once a vital element of the culture of the U.S. In the past twenty years, at least three major Protestant leaders have been indicted for crimes including solicitation of a prostitute and fraudulent money handling in regard to their congregations.

The third characteristic that both empires have in common is the nature of their respective capital cities. Rome, the capital of the Western Empire, was a city fraught with corruption and a professional governing class. The administrators of Rome were spurious at best; according to Mr. Dreher’s article the leading lights of Rome “ruled as if the common good coincided with their private interests” (Dreher, 2). Assassination was a constant threat in the Roman capital as well. Gibbon states on page 150 of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that, “The dark and sanguinary soul of the tyrant was open to every suspicion against those among his subjects who were most distinguished by their birth or merit. Whenever he was alarmed with the sound of treason, his cruelty was unbounded and unrelenting.” So, within the capital of Rome, whenever a tyrant was in power (which was most of the time) the constant threats of a leaderless empire or a general proscription laid upon those of the highest ability or rank laid waste to the societal peace of mind. Does not this same type of fear of assassination exist in Washington D.C.? Not always the act of physical assassination, but the even more cowardly process of character and political assassination enacted during the tenures of various Senators and Representatives, or Presidents and Vice-Presidents. Also, Washington D.C., the capital of the United States of America, is a city rife with the backhanded manipulations of lobbyists and self-interest groups. Furthermore, Washington houses a double-headed hierarchy of elected officials who both profit from and cling to their respective positions with all the fervor of babies clinging to their mother’s breasts. Is this image not akin to the sculpture of young Romulus and Remus, the mythological brother-founders of Rome, between whom fratricide was committed, suckling at the tit of the she-wolf who raised them with the same savagery and blood lust endemic to the other children of her breed?

In conclusion, I feel it is important to state two of the major differences between the late Roman Empire and the present United States of America: the resistance exhibited by Americans to be classified as an empire versus the Romans’ glory in that title, and the perfection taken for granted by Romans in their system of government, and a good portion of Americans’ desire for progressive fiscal and social policies over the outdated and archaic views held by some in power at the present time (Dreher, 3). Also, the Roman Empire had over a millennium to become stagnant and infertile. The United States, although certainly corrupt, lazy, and in some cases apathetic towards the rest of the world, is much younger and therefore stands a better chance of revival. Rome experienced periods of grandeur and political stability under such emperors as Hadrian, Trajan, the Antonines and Aurelian. The United States has also had moments of glory and unimpeded progress under various leaders, and has given birth to some of the best minds to ever grace the intellectual arena. However, the United States of America also designed, manufactured and dropped the first atomic bomb: a fact that haunts this country today in its dealings with rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran. Also, much like the Romans, we have a hoard of manufacturing and capital craving “barbarians” seeking economic mastery just outside the gates of our empire: the Chinese. Still, we as a nation insist on forcing our brand of democracy, our love of the material, and our self-centered egoism on the rest of mankind. The future generations of this country will have some very difficult choices to make concerning character and culture, but hopefully reform in our capital will herald a new and brighter age for the free and brave citizens of the United States of America.

Informal Works Cited:

1. Are We Rome? How the U.S. can avoid its own version of the fall of the Roman empire by Rod Dreher. Dallas Morning News: July 29, 2007

2. Expanding the military, without a draft; proposals to sign up more troops are raising concern about lower recruiting standards by Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel. Los Angeles Times. December 24, 2006.

3. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged Version). Edward Gibbon. The Modern Library, New York: 2005.

4. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Unabridged). Edward Gibbon. The Modern Library, New York: 1965.

5. Insideprison.com. Found at: http://www.insideprison.com/

6. USA.gov. Found at: http://www.usa.gov/

7. The Canada Review of American Studies. Found at: http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/canadian_review_of_american_studies/v034/34.1budra.html

8. Television and Health. Found at: http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html

Faithful To A Lie

2007-10-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

Faithful to a Lie: An Anonymous Account of Alcoholism and Its Effects

Varo Borja

As sure as night is dark and day is light, I keep you on my mind both day and night, and happiness I know proves that it’s right. Because you’re mine, I walk the line. – Johnny Cash

Alcoholism is an often misunderstood and mistreated illness, involving the suffering of not only the afflicted person, but the destruction of ties both familial and professional. Everyone around the alcoholic suffers to some extent, and is affected and sickened by a terminal disease without a cure. If someone is sick with virtually any other terminal disease, there is much suffering, but there is also much goodwill expressed towards the sufferer and the family of the afflicted. With alcoholism this is almost never the case. The alcoholic tears himself and his family down, running through the lives of people like a train gone haywire. There is financial ruin as well as emotional and spiritual devastation, and alcoholism doesn’t stop there. Alcoholism is a family disease and can be passed down to the sufferer’s children and grandchildren. One may ask, is there any solution to this type of devastation? From my own experience the answer is yes. My recovery from alcoholism has entailed much sacrifice and hardship, but contrary to common knowledge it has not been a matter of willpower; rather it has been an exercise in surrender that has included much joy and the development of friendships that have been life-saving and unconditional.

My exposure to alcohol as a child was somewhat limited. My father drank, and drank heavily, but almost never around my brother and me. He gave me my first sip of beer when I was eight years old. I still remember what the can looked like, the setting (a crisp autumn day, much like this one), and the taste. I didn’t care for it at the time, but I remember feeling grown up and a part of what was happening around me: two grown men being cool and getting drunk. My first real drunk was at age 16. My buddy Scratch and I lifted a half of a fifth of Everclear from a high school party and rushed back to his house, nervous and expectant with the teenage giddiness accompanied with breaking the rules. We mixed the stuff with several different types of Kool-Aid and drank it down for one single purpose: to get drunk. Scratch ended up getting sick and passing out after one cupful. I drank mine, the rest of his, and the rest of the bottle. I remember feeling much like a newborn baby must feel: carefree, alive, and nurtured by the nectar of the gods. My drinking took on much greater proportions from that point. I graduated from High School with barely a B average, but I earned an A in the ability to drink more than any of my friends or acquaintances.

After graduation, all my friends and I packed in our cars and drove to Myrtle Beach for a week of drunken orgies and no parental guidance. I bottomed out in my girlfriend’s hotel room; I was drunk on cheap liquor, naked except for a pair of boxer briefs and passed out in her bed with a five-day growth of beard in the midst of her polite society friends. She broke up with me not long after that, and I went on another vacation: to the nut ward. I had my first case of delirium tremens there, I tried to climb the fence a day later, and I was diagnosed not only with alcoholism, but with bipolar disorder. I was very belligerent and the staff doctor put me on high doses of Thorazine and Benzotropine, a drug that counteracts the horrendous side effects of the chemical straightjacket, Thorazine. When I would misbehave, the staff would take away my Benzotropine and my joints would lock up, making me unable to sit or stand up straight and consigning me to a constricted type of movement known as the “Thorazine shuffle”. I was introduced to another type of treatment in this facility that didn’t involve the use of chemicals and that would aid me, up until this day, in my continued progress towards a better life: Alcoholics Anonymous. I went to my first AA meeting so doped up on Thorazine that I couldn’t sit up straight, so I just looked at the floor and took in the smells and sounds of the place: Skin Bracer aftershave, rot-gut coffee, prayer, and laughter. The meeting made an impression on me, but not enough to alter the course of my life at that early juncture.

Four months after leaving my first treatment center I enrolled in classes at ASU. I did my best to go to class for the first month and to control, with daily exertions of willpower, my drinking, but soon I succumbed to the pleasures of the dorm and started making daily trips to the local package store instead of to my classes. I landed on the rocks two months later and had to take a medical withdrawal from school and go back to the same treatment center I had been in the year before. Another bout with delirium tremens was in store for me, along with several nights in the hole (the isolation room) and more mood stabilizing drugs. I was reintroduced to Alcoholics Anonymous in the facility and this time it took, at least for a little while. Over the next few years I was to put together some significant periods of sobriety, but the relapses in between did much damage to myself, to my family, and to the ones I loved.

The effects of my drinking were both numerous and horrid. My drinking aggravated my bi-polar illness, making work difficult and school impossible. I accumulated a list of more than fifty employers in the span of ten years, with experiences ranging all the way from installing foam insulation in newly-built Wal-Mart stores, to driving an express route delivering packages, to hanging sheet rock and various other construction trades. Drinking at first had been a type of social lubricant, but my relationships with women suffered greatly and I became a selfish abuser. I had sworn as a child to never strike a woman in anger, but by the time I was 19 I had broken a girl’s nose and caused her to fall down a flight of stairs; the fall made her break her leg as well. I had more one night sexual encounters than I cared to remember or could remember, due to my blackout type of drinking; the relationships that did last were fraught with emotional, verbal, and sometimes physical abuse. Relations with my family suffered greatly as well, and my mother kicked me out of her house more than once, telling me bluntly to never return. One of the worst feelings that I’ve ever experienced is seeing not only my mother, but my father crying, desperately pleading with me to change my behavior and stop hurting my family, as well as myself. My friendships were strained because the boys who I had grown up drinking with settled down, and started careers and families. My high school friends like Scratch went off to college at universities like UNC and NC State. They earned degrees and became offended when I would call them at 3 in the morning, drunk and belligerent with Hank Jr. blasting in the background, waking their wives and children, and trying to relive our days of glory when they had to be at work four hours later. I even tried to go back to college, but I went on a prodigious bender and the doors of opportunity closed on me once again with a clang. The referee of life had counted to two several times in my drinking career, but I always managed to rebound off the canvas with my intelligence and willpower, only to be pummeled again on the ropes by the 400 lb. juggernauts Jim Beam and George Dickel.

Through the years I managed to put together three significant periods of sobriety, which were very rewarding while they lasted, but all three ended in dismal failure. My first significant period of sobriety was from early 1994 to late 1996. During this time I became quite respected in the AA community and developed a relationship with an AA sponsor that was both rewarding and based on unconditional love. His name was Jerry, and he was a young man like me. We spent many hours together sharing and encouraging each other, but in the end we both left Alcoholics Anonymous to join religious congregations. I ended up relapsing due to my inability to be honest with my fellow parishioners and the lack of identification, or camaraderie that I felt there. Jerry is still sober to this day, but when I see him our conversations are brief and full of platitudes and empty pleasantries. My second substantial period of sobriety was from early 1998 to the first month of the year 2000. During this time I developed another friendship with an AA sponsor named Dick, and was surrounded by a group of young men and women who made me feel both whole and loved. We had many days of joy and shared pain together, and I grew by leaps and bounds in both an emotional and social sense, but I failed to expand upon my spiritual life and ended up relapsing after I’d met a drug-using girl and gone home with her. My last unsuccessful period of sobriety was from late 2000 to mid 2003. During this period I rekindled the relationships with my former AA friends, and began using Dick as my AA sponsor again. I worked through the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous this time, but I failed in the end to fully grasp the first step of the twelve: we admitted we were powerless over alcohol. This fatal flaw in the foundation that I had built brought the whole structure crashing down on my head in June of 2003. For the next two months I knew nothing but a living hell; I experienced a quality of pain through my drinking and the drug crystal methamphetamine that I had never known to belong to mortal man, and after losing absolutely everything worthwhile in my short life, including my sanity, I surrendered.

My last, and hopefully terminal period of sobriety started on August 12, 2003 in the midst of personal chaos and financial ruin. I sobered up, first in jail, and then in a local hospital and renewed my commitment to recovery with a willingness I had never before been able to muster. The quality of my surrender was golden this time; I had absolutely no reservations about my ability to control my use and abuse of alcohol through my own willpower. I struggled for a year to maintain employment, but I didn't struggle with the fact that I needed to take direction both from a Higher Power and from a recovery sponsor. The next two years were full of trials and hardships, but I managed to go back to school, renew and rebuild lost relationships, and most importantly maintain an attitude of compliant willingness. The last year has been very rewarding, and I have attained some measure of success; school, friendships, a relationship with a woman, and family ties are all growing stronger and more fulfilling every day. I have more friendships today than I can keep up with, and most of them are based on a mutually affirming and sincere desire to grow spiritually.

In conclusion, it has occurred to me recently that I was always very tough on myself for my lack of faithfulness to God, to the women I was involved with, to my family, and to my many employers. I had always considered myself to be a person lacking in fidelity to anyone or anything, but this is only a half-truth. I was abjectly faithful to the bottle that beat me mercilessly and also to the fight to overcome the allure that whiskey and the lifestyle associated with it held for me. I bloodied myself against the brick wall imposed upon me by my disease and by my own stubborn willfulness, instead of surrendering the fight and taking the directions given to me, which were to step around the wall. I have always been a very willful person; I managed to stay alive for over ten years in a world that gave me odds on living no more than three. Several doctors and psychiatrists gave up on me over the years, consigning me to the heap of negative statistics associated with alcoholics and drug addicts. However, there were some who remained faithful to me through all the disasters and drug treatments: namely God, my closest AA friends, and my AA sponsors. God didn’t give up on me because it isn’t in his nature to throw away His children; he can’t dispose of those he has bought with His own blood, sweat, and suffering. AA members and sponsors are much like God in that they invest years of patient assistance to those who suffer from the disease of alcoholism. However, unlike God, AA members are mortal and have limitations on their ability to persevere with the worst of the cases presented to them. There were a handful of loyal persons who didn’t give up on me though, and it is for them as well as a loving God that I will be eternally grateful and do my best to express that gratitude through a life lived not only in compliant humility, but active service to those who want a way out of lives lived in faithfulness to a lie.

Trinity of Sin

2007-09-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

A Trinity of Sin

By

Varo Borja

Why did the thirteen original colonies of the now United States of America revolt against Great Britain? We are taught from a young age to believe what we are told in school, and we are told that the founding fathers wanted “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” We are told also that the colonies were fighting to throw off a tyrannical oligarchy composed of his “Most Britannick Majesty, King George III” and his underlings, namely the Houses of Lords and Commons, and the Tory party. We are also taught, through the media and our textbooks that the early “Americans” were suffering from “taxation without representation” and other atrocities inflicted by the murderous British and their lackeys, the redcoats. We are taught that the American Revolution was a glorious upheaval resulting in the birth of what many believe to be the greatest nation on Earth. I propose a different thesis. In my humble estimation, the reasons for going to war with our erstwhile mother country were primarily the first three of the Seven Deadly Sins, namely: Pride, Anger, and Greed.

First, at the head of the list is the sin of Pride. According to “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine, a revolutionary leader,

Some writers have explained the English constitution thus; the king, say they, is one, the people another; the peers are an house in behalf of the king; the commons in behalf of the people; but this hath all the distinctions of an house divided against itself; and though the expressions be pleasantly arranged, yet when examined they appear idle and ambiguous; and it will always happen, that the nicest construction that words are capable of, when applied to the description of something which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be within the compass of description, will be words of sound only, and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this explanation includes a previous question, viz. how came the king by a Power which the people are afraid to trust, and always obliged to check? Such a power could not be the gift of a wise people, neither can any power, which needs checking, be from God; yet the provision, which the constitution makes, supposes such a power to exist.

Were not these words a form of arrogance, backed by Enlightenment principle, and a direct stab at the established hierarchy that, in former times, was declared to be ordained by God? The revolution was based primarily on Enlightenment thought, or the Age of Reason as we know it today. The revolution was dressed with a veneer of religious jargon, but weren’t these “founding fathers” seeking to overthrow what happened to be the most Republican government in the world, primarily out of a desire for rebellious autonomy, self-interested vanity, and the desire to be accountable to none other than their own consciences? According to Gordon S. Wood in his book “The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin”, Franklin in June 1788 wrote of the Confederation Congress,

their ideas so different, their prejudices so strong and so various, and their particular interests independent of the general, seeming so opposite, that not a move can be made that is not contested.

Was this not a struggling to the top of the heap by men like John Adams, Henry Lee, and Alexander Hamilton? From Franklin’s perspective, the process by which the thirteen colonies became a nation seems more Darwinian than egalitarian, and full of self-interested swindlers waging a war of words (and bullets) against each other and against a Patriarch whom they viewed to be a despot in need of obfuscation, not obeisance. These words from John Adams shed an even brighter light upon this dismal scene,

Here, again, we are to be conjured out of our senses by the magic in the words "British empire," and "supreme power of the state." But, however it may sound, I say we are not a part of the British empire; because the British government is not an empire. The governments of France, Spain, &c. are not empires, but monarchies, supposed to be governed by fixed fundamental laws, though not really. The British government is still less entitled to the style of an empire. It is a limited monarchy. If Aristotle, Livy, and Harrington knew what a republic was, the British constitution is much more like a republic than an empire.

Adams sets himself up as both judge and lawyer to an established system of government. He quotes Livy and Aristotle, both advocates of the landed elite and who, at least in the person of Livy, worked for an established empire which had not only a benevolent and vigorous emperor, but a functioning Senate as well. Also, like Livy, Adams seemed to have a propensity for vainglory and Romantic idealism; both attributable to a prideful nature.

Secondly, I propose that the American Revolution was based on the sin of Anger. The account available of the Boston Massacre preceding the Revolution is very revealing of the mentality held by the colonists of Boston at the time. It states at the beginning,

THE FIFTH DAY OF MARCH, 1770, BY SOLDIERS OF THE TWENTY-NINTH REGIMENT WHICH WITH THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT WERE THEN QUARTERED THERE; WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF THINGS PRIOR TO THAT CATASTROPHE.

The account goes on to produce a number of rumors and hearsay collected from several Bostonians, but no information from the side of the soldiers and their commander is available. The account mentions that the “massacre” occurred because of a conflict between a soldier and a local rope maker, and then escalated with the soldiers being repulsed by the humble citizens of Boston (with snowballs nonetheless) until in a fit of rage the soldiers opened fire, killing several persons and maiming a few. The account is also rendered anonymously, lending credence to the probability that it contained exaggerations and outright fallacies. This type of propaganda is common when a pre-existing tone of resentment exists among a people on the eve of Revolution. Nothing is mentioned in the account of threats made against the soldiers and their commander, but it does reveal some important information in its retelling of other firearms involved in the massacre. According to this anonymous source,

There are depositions in this affair which mention, that several guns were fired at the same time from the Custom-house; before which this shocking scene was exhibited. Into this matter inquisition is now making. In the meantime it may be proper to insert here the substance of some of those depositions.

The anonymous source doesn’t give any other information as regarding the outcome of these other depositions, once again obscuring fact for one-sided fiction in an attempt to make propaganda out of an isolated incident, lending more weight to the reality of motives rooted in Anger based on wounded Pride and my next topic, Greed.

Finally, a few words of “common sense” from Soame Jenyns, a member of parliament and a minor poet whose works are now “all but forgotten”:

The libery of an Englishman, is a phrase of so various a signification, having within these few years been used as a synonymous term for blasphemy, bawdy, treason, libels, strong beer, and cyder, that I shall not here presume to define its meaning; but I shall venture to assert what it cannot mean; that is, an exemption from taxes imposed by the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain; nor is there any charter, that ever pretended to grant such a privilege to any colony in America; and had they granted it, it could have had no force; their charters heing derived from the Crown, and no charter from the Crown can possibly supersede the right of the whole legislature: their charters are undoubtedly no more than those of all corporations, which impower them to make byelaws, and raise duties for the purposes of their own police, for ever subject to the superior authority of parliament; and in some of their charters, the manner of exercising these powers is specified in these express words, ‘according to the course of other corporations in Great-Britain’: and therefore they can have no more pretence to plead an exemption from this parliamentary authority, than any other corporation in England.

This powerful statement all but lays waste to the naked greed and self interest exhibited by the colonists with their cries of “taxation without representation”, and the lofty, but avaricious language associated with the “protection of property” espoused by the founding fathers. In almost every primary source available from the period preceding the Revolution, statements may be found regarding the oppressive taxation imposed upon the colonists by the mother country, but were not these taxes to be borne by all in the British Empire? Were the colonists so proud and “enlightened” that they no longer need bear the burden of the administration of the empire along with their fellow subjects in England? Also, who stood most to profit by a rupture with the mother country? Was it the common colonial soldier who bled and died on the battlefield, or was it the landed gentry such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, or up and coming Federalist money-grubbers such as Alexander Hamilton? Mr. Jenyns likens the colonies to separate and distinct “corporations”. This statement is made manifest in the words of another “founding father” of sorts, President Calvin Coolidge, when he made the remark, “The business of America is business.”

In conclusion, I would like to say that I am a patriot and a loyal citizen of the United States of America, in spite of the faulty structure upon which it was founded. I vote, I pay taxes, and I go to football games all under the watchful, if not completely benevolent gaze of Uncle Sam. The American Revolution made possible more than a nation comprised of prideful, atom bomb wielding, avaricious flag wavers. The Revolution also made possible all the good things about America as we know it today. The unsung, but highly virtuous heroes who go to work in furniture factories, steel mills, courtrooms and colleges who are the backbone of this glorious nation are the ones who truly make it great. The people whose ancestors bled and died on the battlefields of Saratoga and Savannah or Bunker Hill and Brandywine, or even those who came to the United States after its birth in crowded steamers, wide-eyed and garrulous with a glee that can only be found in the young and the free. Let us not forget those too, who came to the “Land of the Free” as captives in the holds of Portugese, English, and Spanish slave ships, destined for a life of thankless toil without payment on the rice and indigo plantations of South Carolina, or the fields of the vice crop, tobacco, in Virginia. These are the people who still protect and benefit from the principles upon which this country was founded, regardless of the motives for their conception. The business of America may still be business, but it is also to guard and nurture the millions of families who comprise the Great Experiment that is still going on today between the borders of Canada and Mexico, and in the northern reaches of Alaska and the sultry, verdant islands of Hawaii. Although possessed of less than competent leadership at times, The United States of America will continue to be a haven for the oppressed so long as we as a nation hold true to the governing principles set down by the founding fathers, who were, in effect, only human and guided by virtue as well as vice, and valiant selflessness as well as stubborn vanity.

Bibliography

Thomas Paine, Common Sense. Found at: http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1776-1800/paine/CM/sensexx.htm

John Adams, Novanglus. Found at: http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/P/ja2/writings/novan1.htm

Anonymous Account of the Boston Massacre. Found at: http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1751-1775/bostonmassacre/anon.htm

Soame Jenyns, The Objections to the Taxation of our American Colonies by the Legislature of Great Britain, briefly consider'd. Found at: http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1751-1775/stampact/object.htm

The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin. Gordon S. Wood. Penguin Books: New York, New York, 2004.

Treaty of Paris, 1763. Found at: http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1751-1775/7yearswar/paris.htm

Five Minutes

2007-09-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

Five Minutes

by

Varo Borja

Violence is endemic to human nature. For most of us, desensitization occurs through the media, but for some of us personal experience can contribute to the lack of compassion for other people’s suffering as well. I went to high school in a neighboring town where violence was an every day affair; pillowcases placed over unsuspecting heads and beaten until red with blood, fistfights redolent with racial strife and bigotry where one or more participants lost teeth or hair, and drug-motivated beat downs where the small change pushers lost ground and game to older, wiser, cocaine wielding criminals fresh from the streets and toughened by gang warfare who wore their purple skinned bullet wounds and knife marks to prove it. In this essay I will attempt to describe the culmination, for me, of my lifelong desensitization to violence and the nuclear blast that enveloped me in my senior year of high school, and changed the way I think and feel about violence forever.

On a bright, crisp, late September day in 1991 I drove to school in my Honda Accord with many hopes for the future. I had applied for a Naval Academy scholarship and had lofty plans of one day soaring through the cool, azure skies of the Mediterranean doing mach 3 in an F-14 Tomcat, and then relaxing on the beaches in the south of France sipping good claret and resting my tired bones on the ample bosom of a hard bodied Moroccan belly dancer. I was destined to graduate with honors the next spring, I was starting sweeper for the school soccer team, and I was dating a rather beautiful and barely intelligent Barbie doll who went to school in a nearby town. I was listening to my favorite rap album at the time, Straight Outta Compton, and relishing the lyrics fraught with the rape and gun battles that I only aspired to be able to commit. My heroes were Ernest Hemingway, Kurt Cobain, Ice Cube, and Easy Mother Effin’ E: two of which had died or were soon to die by their own hands and the other two heavily involved in a culture of violence of which I was destined that day, unbeknownst to me, to take part in.

I crept in my car past the first row of parking spaces at the school and into the second, bass booming and treble blasting with one hand on the steering wheel and the other brandishing my silver-plated, rubber gripped Smith and Wesson .38 caliber revolver. My friends and I were all pistol-wielding suburban punks who drank cheap whiskey on the weekends and drove 90 mph down dead end roads where we’d fire off a few rounds at the phantoms in the underbrush and then shadowbox with invisible assailants, drunk on Early Times and the wine of innocence. My brother Lucas and I would usually end up in some minor scrape with two or more local idiots outside the Servco gas station on Highway 18 and go home with bloody noses or black eyes, only to sneak in the side window beneath the begonias and the radar of our ever-vigilant, but overworked mother. My mother was a police officer with ten years of protection, service, low pay and war stories under her belt, and through her tutelage and the assistance of two other veteran beat cops I had learned how to fight and to fight well. I had also learned how to wield every sidearm from my paltry Smith .38 to a Glock 9mm to pretty much anything Sigsauer made and sold in the United States. I could field strip an AK-47 blindfolded by the time I was 12, and more than once I had been to the gun range on mornings wet with dew and loud with the staccato rhythm of fully automatic assault rifles and submachine gun fire. By the time I was 14 I was a junior fascist of the order of Adolf (a nickname given to the junior police), I’d seen a C-130 crash at Fort Bragg during an arms show killing all hands on board, and had been in more fistfights and ad hoc wrestling matches than I dared to count. As I pulled into school that day though, my ten or so years of weekend gun play and extra-curricular boxing matches were all I knew of the world and its ways, and that wasn’t a hell of a lot.

Next, I remember walking from the parking lot to the front entrance, past all the fine honeys and flexing football players, past the empty cardboard cases of Busch Light and Beast, past the geeks commiserating by the graffiti clad doorway as to exactly which was better in Module Q1 of Queen of the Demonweb Pits: a specialized necromancer or a lawful-good paladin? The smells of early fall and teen angst greeted me on my arrival: cheap cigarette smoke laced with wisps of cheaper, south of the border dirt weed, Polo cologne saved for and bought at the local Belk, and the odor of burnt school pizza wafting from the cafeteria on the other side of the building. I immediately headed upstairs to the third floor to take up my usual place of residence by locker number 357: a prize won from a Freshman for the fictitious phone number of one of my acquaintances on the cheerleading squad, and a warm Budweiser. When I reached my place of repose on the third floor two of my friends were already awaiting me. My brother Lucas and my buddy Scratch (so named for the short story, The Devil and Daniel Webster; his name was Michael but he wanted to be a lawyer and he was a devil with freshman girls) were all decked out for the day in loose fitting clothes and baseball caps turned backwards. We were expecting the usual fight that morning: whites vs. blacks in some fashion or another. We played devil’s advocate most mornings, jumping into the fray on whatever side seemed to be losing, helping to balance the scales of the very volatile “scholastic” environment into which we had been placed and then ducking out before the authorities showed up, sneaking into our Honors English classes with pencils in hand and halos glimmering. After our initial exchanges of adolescent banter and “what up Ho’s” with each other and our surrounding school chums, we took a seat and waited expectantly for the faceless, would-be gladiators to emerge from their respective corners. We didn’t have to wait long.

Apparently, two young black students had been staring a little too intently at the posterior of a young white girl who happened to be the girlfriend of a white boy named Robbie K. Robbie K. had grown up in one of the surrounding backwoods communities and was quite accustomed, from a young age, to parties at which only one or two black persons were invited, and that more often than not featured a burning cross and crisp, white linens, no matter how unseasonable ghost costumes were at the time. Also, that day Robbie was accompanied by one of the more Caucasian of the power weight lifters at the school, James Dell, who was also known for his disdain for the black race and his rather outspoken manner for that disdain: the ability to crush a man’s face with one punch. Finally, unbeknownst to me, Lucas, Scratch and everyone else at the school that day, Robbie K. had a ten-inch Bowie knife tucked away under his flannel shirtfront.

The fight started in a flash, with the two young black males being joined by eight other members, all black, of various sports teams and cliques. James Dell held them off with flurries of rights and lefts, uppercuts and haymakers. Before my friends and I could join the fray though, Robbie had unsheathed his Bowie and knife and driven it up to the hilt in a fourteen-year-old black boy’s chest. The boy’s name was Terry. Terry had been raised by his aged grandmother to respect his elders, to do well in school, and to stay away from drugs. Terry was a child that had got caught up in a moment of passion, joined a stupid fight over teenage bravado, and ended up on the business end of a knife driven by more than one hundred years of ignorance, hatred, and wounded pride. Terry died almost instantly. Several wails went up at that point from the stricken crowd as Terry fell backward into his schoolmate’s arms and gasped his last few breaths. Still mad with the lust of battle, Robbie began slashing around with the now blood soaked Bowie knife, dealing a mortal blow to Randall Moore, another black boy of seventeen who was trying to get out of the scuffle. Randall received a slit open gut that year instead of a high school diploma. He came barreling down the hall past me and my two shell-shocked friends, spraying blood on lockers, bookbags, and lunchboxes, screaming for his God and for his mother. I wore Randall’s blood on my shirt and shoes for the rest of the day, dumbfounded at what I had just witnessed. After the police and the ambulances had come, after the media, like vultures, had descended upon the scene and picked clean the bones of a tragedy that they and their kind had helped to create, and after a thousand tears had been shed by a hapless community reaping, through their children, an unwillingness to reconcile racial hatred and bigotry that had steeped like a cauldron of shit for more than five generations, I wore Randall’s blood home. The fight that day had lasted a maximum of five minutes, but in five minutes time the lives of more than one hundred high school students had been drastically altered, two of which would never see another school year or grow into the happy, productive members of society for which they were supposedly being trained.

As for me, I didn’t cry. I drove home that day a little upset but unable to take in, at that young age, what had befallen my community that day. I’ve heard that the best time in a young man’s life to send him off to die for some ultimately trivial, propagandized cause is between the ages of seventeen and nineteen. I’ve also read that most soldiers in Vietnam were around age nineteen, and long before that children died beneath the flags of bloated monarchs as young as age 13. I do know that after the fight I gave up trying to get into the Naval Academy. Smoking reefer and chasing girls took the places of the junior fascist corps and organized sports. I still listened to NWA on occasion, but I developed a stronger affinity for Neil Young and Mozart and I gave that Smith and Wesson .38 back to the wizened old beat cop that had loaned it to me. That day didn’t end the maelstrom, however. Robbie K. and James Dell got off on a self- defense plea about three months later, ushering in a whole new era of violence at the school and in the community. Fights raged daily after that; police were at the school every day and metal detectors had to be installed. I witnessed a boy named Chris, who I had attended school with since our Elementary days, have his face rammed into a water fountain, breaking off his front teeth and scarring him forever, all for uttering a racial slur. I witnessed a girl of seventeen have most of her hair ripped out by four other girls of about the same age for uttering the same racist remark. I didn’t come out of that year completely unscathed either. I graduated in the Spring, but not with that bright golden honors sash that I had so greedily desired. I graduated with a 3.35, mostly for giving up on my Algebra Trig class and indulging more and more in cheap Tennessee bourbon. Lucas, Scratch and I would smuggle in pints of the brown stuff and mix it sparingly with coca-cola. By the end of most days I’d be so drunk that one of my friends would have to drive me home and pour me into my bed before my mother arrived. I came out of that school with a diploma, but I also came out with a taste for liquor that would haunt me for over ten years afterwards. I don’t blame my alcoholism on the school or anyone else, but we are all products, to some extent, of our environment.

In conclusion, I must say that reliving these experiences through this essay has not been easy. What started out as a simple descriptive process has turned into something of a confession. I have no need for either pedant or priest to absolve me of my past sins of omission or commission, but one thing rings true throughout this essay: violence begets violence, whether that violence is of a physical nature or of an emotional one. Since sobering up over four years ago, I have tried to live a life a peace and harmony and one in accord with the principles of a Higher Power. I find much solace in silent reflection, and the excitement of a brawl is more foreign to me today than Mandarin Chinese. I live a quiet, simple life, and I have the privilege of helping to raise two small children today who have never known me to be either drunk or violent. Hopefully, I will be able, in some small capacity, to pass on to them the value of “turning the other cheek” and a sense of wonder and respect for the sanctity of human life. I can’t help but wonder if I could have made a difference that day, sixteen years ago, to those boys bent on murder in halls where learning and play should have been predominant. If I had had the same values and respect for life that I’ve acquired over many years in the school of hard knocks that I have today, could I have stepped in and been a peacemaker that day instead of willing spectator? Unfortunately, hindsight is always 20/20 and the past is long dead, so I must continue to make amends for that sin of omission on a daily basis as I trudge the road of a happier destiny and try and give away some of the grace that has been bestowed on me.

Iowa Caucus: Dems Seek Hispanic Votes

2007-08-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

Thoughts on the Iowa Caucus

Varo Borja

This article, by Nafeesa Sayeed, for the Associated Press, discusses the meager efforts being conducted by the Democratic Party to provide outreach to potential Hispanic voters in the State of Iowa. The Iowa caucus, the first to be held in the Nation’s presidential race and certainly the most hyped by the media, could be a good indicator of which candidate will win the nomination, and is therefore a much coveted prize by all the candidates. However, according to the article, not much is being done by any of the candidates to reach out to the growing Hispanic population in Iowa, other than a few half-hearted efforts at conferences and some appointments made on would-be presidential staffs. The top three contenders (Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Bill Richardson) have apparently made attempts at outreach to the Hispanic population in Iowa, but according to sources inside the state, such as Jesse Martinez, (an Iowa resident working with the Eastern Iowa Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform) not much is being done to reach out to the people who matter most: the voters. However, the Democrats face an imposing task, because the Hispanic population is dispersed throughout the state in small communities that are tough to reach in the aggregate. Also, Hispanics make up only about 4 percent of the population of Iowa, making them a less appealing target, but still a sizeable demographic. The Hispanic population has risen 39 percent in the last few years, and with the presidential contenders competing at very tight margins, any advantage that can be won will be well worth the effort undergone to achieve it. However, much more must be done if the present candidates are to win the laurels afforded by a large Hispanic turnout, starting with better education for previously unregistered Hispanic voters and a more aggressive outreach strategy that is able to reach this demographic before time runs out in November.

Number of the Beast

2007-08-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

number of the beast

666 = number of the Beast
665 = older brother of the Beast
660 = approximate number of the Beast
66600 = zip code of the Beast
$665.95 = retail price of the Beast
DCLXVI = Roman numeral of the Beast
666.0000 = Number of the High-Precision Beast
0.666 = Number of the Millibeast
/666 = Beast Common Denominator
-666½ = Imaginary number of the Beast
6.66e3 = Floating point Beast
1010011010 = Binary number of the Beast
6, uh . . . what was that number again? = Number of the Blonde Beast
1-666 = Area code of the Beast
666 mph = Speed limit of the Beast
$699.30 = Price of the Beast plus 5% state sales tax
$769.95 = Price of the Beast with all accessories and replacement soul
$656.66 = Walmart price of the Beast
$646.66 = Next week's Walmart price of the Beast
Phillips 666 = Gasoline of the Beast
Route 666 = Way of the Beast
666 F = Oven temperature for roast Beast
352 – Oven temperature for roast Beast in Europe
666(k) = Retirement plan of the Beast
666 mg = Recommended Minimum Daily Requirement of Beast
6.66% = 5-yr CD interest rate at 1st Beast of Hell Nat. Bank, $666 min. deposit
$666/hr = Beast's lawyer's billing rate
Lotus 6-6-6 = Spreadsheet of the Beast
Word 6.66 = Word Processor of the Beast
i66686 = CPU of the Beast
665.9997856 = Number of the Beast on a Pentium
666i = BMW of the Beast
DSM-666 (revised) = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Beast
1232 Octal, Apt. 29A = Beast's hexed address
668 = Next-door neighbor of the Beast
333 = The semi-Christ
Note: some of the above are only approximations, and should not be used in religious invocations or other such woo-woo applications…

The Garden (Unfinished)

2007-08-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

The Garden

By Varo Borja

Chapter 1

The stars silhouette two bodies digging, digging furiously neath a crescent moon, the birds are silent and the mosquitoes buzz around the diggers, furious gales of micro marauders, seeking blood beneath flesh, a constant impediment to the work in progress—shovels clang and handles creak, a brook rippling nearby gurgling on towards the sea in an uninterrupted, serene stream of clear, life giving water. A raven flies across the moon, an omen not heeded, a seal unbroken. One of the diggers pauses to remove a handkerchief from his back pocket—he wipes the night sweats away, gazing at the moon and cursing silently beneath his breath. The work continues.

Her name was Dahlia. She came from a village in Carteret County where the copperheads crept through the underbrush and where the night was still cold come mid May. She fetched water and chopped wood. She milked the cows till their teets wouldn’t give another drop, then she’d slit their haggard ankles for blood to keep her and her baby from starving while the blue coats ravaged the towns and the home guard pillaged the countryside. She’d kept a garden with maters and taters and a little bit of corn, but the corn got confiscated by the home guard for home brew whiskey and the maters and taters dried up like the dust of the road that them son of a bitches in Drake’s platoon patrolled every day instead of going off to fight the North like Johnny did. Johnny was her sixteen-year-old husband who lay mangled in a mass grave somewhere this side of Vicksburg. X marked the spot where Johnny lay, half his face gone to a smoldering piece of grapeshot, the other gone to the indomitable dust. X for the flag of the fallen, rebel pride red with the blood of the children of antebellum rancor—slave blood also, fed by the same earth to which they were bound and which poured out of lashes well laid on for trespassing on the Eden of the white man—stealing a biscuit or the virtue of some lilly of the valley redolent of powder and laudanum, wrapped in calico and lace and heavy with a child that would be hushed and shushed and sold to a convent for sixpence. Blue, blue also with the tears of a million women just like Dahlia or worse, cried like the river running slowly down to New Orleans, carrying bales of blood bought white riches. White also, white stars symbolizing a pipe dream manufactured from the spine grease of blackest Africa, white hot fire in the bellies of a bullied generation of brutish gentlemen determined to see the thing to the end and selling their very souls for a chance to govern themselves, to maintain a status quo landed aristocracy built on manners and bullshit. Dust and ashes, and a pale moon without comfort, solace or a season to grieve—shit outta luck with a baby eaten up with the cholic and a bottomless belly which her milk couldn’t sate, selfless bile and a vinegar highball, the wine of regret at a tender age, nearer to death than the thin gray wraiths trickling down the road in rags and bandages, half of them shorn of legs and arms and all of them looking for succor from the soon to be reconstructed corpse of a once proud land.

Dahlia struggled for life like the desert struggled for rain—an occasional kindness from some would be suitor would keep her going until the corncrib was empty again. Her baby that she’d never named died on an August afternoon, his ribs showing like a Mannerist Christ child, elongated and fleshy substance that just gave up in its grasping for sustenance, a pieta redolent with pathos and her tears streaming down on his head, then drying into a hardened resolve, turning first from utter despair to anger to a deadness within her that couldn’t be revived by the blood of anyone on any tree set upon a hill which meant nothing to her now anyway. She started walking the road after that, lurking in the shadows and becoming the substance of dreams or the nightmares of children tucked away beneath covers that never knew the embattled night terrors of worry, anxiety, remorse or dread. She’d pass the stragglers in the night--worn out gypsies from the war and half crazed, half caste colonels on old ragged roans littering up the byways with their brokenness in full view even beneath a sky with no moon and barely a star to guide them home. One eye that she didn’t escape was the captain of the ill-named home guard, Drake. Half demon, half vulture perched above the heads of the simple country folk with his two big Colt pistols that he could use to full advantage whenever his purposes boded dark and ominous which was any time that he was awake. He could shoot the eyes out of coon at fifty paces and he’d indiscriminately murdered and raped his was to the throne of the county—throats slit beneath coverlets, secret hangings in the afterdark woodlands reminiscent of black Sabbaths, a bullet in the back or a dagger in the dusk were his tools of the trade, all presided over by the man in control of the spiritual clime of the countryside: Reverend Powers. Reverend Powers was a black robe Baptist who had appeared, it seemed, from thin air one Sunday riding a pale horse with his three wild niggers in tow, toting all sorts of flim flam finery from his fictional homeland of Alabama. No one really knew where Reverend Powers had come from, but with his fiery sermons about the continuance of the war effort and the evils of fornication and abolition and the mongrelization that would be imposed upon God fearing farmers by the Northern, atheistic usurpers to the rightful place of the white man, he had struck a chord of terror into the heart of the locals that appealed to their darkest dreams and most perverse wishes to preserve the chastity of mother South from the advances of her rapist Brother. Reverend Powers had had his eye on Dahlia as well—he called her demon possessed and lunatic and in need of the saving grace of the lamb, but in his heart he desired her with a voracity comparable only to that of a starving lion.

If Reverend Powers was the will of the dragon devouring the county from the inside out and Drake was its teeth, then its claws were the ever present threats of hunger and pestilence, the fruit of a tree of thorns nourished by the blood of innocents and the cries of the fallen. Dahlia was the maiden offered up for sacrifice—bereft of purpose and the capacity for hope, succored only by the dew of the fields and the kindness of strangers whose hospitality was already stretched to a thinner strand than could withstand the fresh onslaught of refugees and ragamuffins pouring into Carteret county riding the red tide of defeat.

Crime and Drugs

2007-07-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

The economic argument for the legalization of marijuana and other drugs in this country is quite clear. From an economic standpoint, excise taxes or "sin taxes" could be imposed on the production and distribution of these drugs, therefore creating tax revenue that could be funneled into treatment programs and other domestic sectors which are suffering because of the so-called war on terror. Spending on higher education is low, healthcare costs are stifling, and public education programs such as art, music, and drama have all but been eradicated in the poorer states of the union. These are programs that could at least be bolstered somewhat by drug tax revenue. Also, the "War on Drugs" would come to a crashing halt because production and distribution would be taken out of the hands of organized crime and placed into legitimate pharmaceutical companies that could regulate, under the watchful eye of the food and drug administration, the production and sales of said drugs. This would free up even more resources that could be used to promote the general welfare of the populace instead of putting more police on the streets and building more and more prisons to house drug offenders. According to statistics, the United States prison system, in 2004, had an incarceration rate of 682 inmates per 100,000 people; the second highest only to Russia. The vast majority of these inmates were incarcerated for petty drug offenses. This trend is increasing, sucking dry the tax coffers of the United States and punishing as criminal what is in fact (according to the AMA) to be a medical and psychological disease. Yes, usage of marijuana will certainly increase in every state because of its relative elastic demand and the glorification it receives in the popular media. However, usage of narcotics should not expand widely because of their relative inelastic demand curves. What do you guys think on this issue?

Sing a Song of Sixpence

2007-04-10T00:27:00.001-07:00

Sing a Song of Sixpence

Varo Borja

We had a good thing going. Twenty, thirty bucks a day, or just enough for a twelve pack of the Beast and a couple packs of Pantry brand. Mitch did the hustling, I just played guitar and looked young and heartbroken.

One time J. Edgar came down the street looking all spiffy in his Salvation Army duds and demanded to hear one of those old mountain tunes that brought tears to the collective eyes of the locale and made the Floridians dole out pocket change like kids at a candy store. I played a tune by the Velvets instead, half in mockery of the sun shining down on my mauled feet and half in jest at the impropriety of J. Edgar and his gutter bravado senselessness.

When Pat went to jail for knifing that frat boy we threw a little party. Two cases of the finest swill that could be bought for ten bucks and a blowjob from that big tittied freshman (what was her name?) that was always lurking around the corners of King Street. Pretty much any corner you went around. I got sick and slept in the rain that night, damn near catching hypothermia but I guess the booze beat off the cold. My old Gibson got soaked but a few wipes with an oil rag from behind the Shell station and a quick tuning did her up just right.

You wouldn’t have much to do with me then. Sure, you’d invite me to one of your protests and feign a little concern at my state of affairs and the state of the nation, but mostly you just kept on fucking that hippy (whatever hippy it was at the time) with his gold card and his Daddy’s Jeep Cherokee. I was down and out and you were doing it up somewhere in the hills, dancing neath the pale moon and pretending to care about something worthwhile.

Your brown eyes were with me most of the time out on the street and occasionally inside some girl, barely twenty and full of bullshit and the bleeding heart. Big, gold flecked and sad eyes that haunted me in my cups and out, keeping watch over me in the twilight of my youth. Did you care? Were the stars out of order on the night that you told me not to come back to the farm because Tasha’s horoscope had warned her to make better use of her time and resources? I guess love bought with a bag of B.C. and a poem scrawled on a Styrofoam cup (so it would last forever) doesn’t merit marriage, two point seven kids and a picket fence but it damn sure felt right. It damn sure felt like it at the time, but youth has a way of breaking mended fences and letting the sheep out to pasture with the wolves. I saw you today. Not you, really, but a girl that looked just like you. My heart skipped a few beats and I had a hard time focusing on my girlfriend sitting across the table from me. The power of the past doesn’t always fade, even with time. You’re married now with two kids, I hear. I’m glad for you. We all gotta grow up sometime, even me. I just wish growing up didn’t mean growing apart.

Beautymark

2007-03-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

Beautymark
By

Varo Borja

The razor’s edge is crystalline diamond

Shaped exit wounds and the scent of gun

Powder my face for you don’t you love

My new dress stained from our last encounter

We fucked on the beer scented sofa and

You asked to marry me with sentimental sirens

In the night the police took you away on

My birthday I’m twenty one and dangerous

Summers eve by the pond oh no you promised

Not to hit me again I’m dying for the back

Of your hand and your dick in my

Face I was a teenage suicide girl anachronistic

Death face my makeup is running

For the door I’m pregnant with longing

For a man to tell me he’s real

Life doesn’t come in Barbie doll wrappers

And bubblegum fantasies mommy can’t

Take the hurt away and all I want

Is lovely come lately

To my funeral fucked up Fantasia

Bloody valentine’s heart heated

Cum and lollipop suckers and

Strawberry smothered

Kisses behind the bleachers

Of the High School Hades

Wrought for my wedding

Bedding down with the boy

With the baseball cap turned

Upside down my life

Reflects the reality

Of abuse and nail marks

On the back of angelic

Dead heroes home from the war

In candy caskets love died with Johnny

In the abortion clinic and the souls

Taken out with the afternoon

Trash bleached white as the snow

Virginal dialogues with the whore

Of my past I’m waiting for you baby don’t you

Love me?

Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror

2007-03-21T22:02:00.000-07:00

Parmigianino's Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror

Varo Borja

In this essay I will attempt to relate to the reader some background information on the Italian Mannerist painter Parmigianino, and also attempt an analysis from three perspectives of one of his major paintings, Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror. The three methods of analysis that I will be utilizing are as follows: Formalism, Semiology (with a hint of Psychoanalysis thrown in for good measure), and Marxism. In conclusion, I will relate to the reader why I feel this work to be of historical as well as contemporary importance.

Girolano Francesco Maria Mazzola, or Parmigianino (little one from Parma) was born the eleventh of January, 1503 as the eighth child of Filippo Mazzola and Maria di ser Guglielmo (Wikipedia, 2007) in Parma, Italy, but was raised by his uncles Pier and Michele Mazzola after his father’s death two years after Parmigianino’s birth. Vasari noted these two uncles as being “modestly talented artitsts” in their own right, and young Parmigianino entered their workshop as an apprentice. He assisted his uncles in the decoration of a chapel in San Giovanni Evangelista, and completed several more works in Parma before moving on to Fontanellato and then Rome. He also became quite adept at drawing, executing an exceptionally large array of pieces on paper, as well as a smaller, but significant number of prints. After fleeing Rome at the invasion of the Imperial German army, he returned to Parma where he became a devotee of alchemy, a sort of magical cult insistent, among other things, on finding a way to convert base metal into gold. He fell out of favor with the church and died young, at the age of 37. He was reportedly buried with a cross of cyprus wood standing erect on his chest.

Parmigianino’s Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror is an intriguing piece, owned by several major collectors of the 16^th century, including the pope Clement VII. From a formalist perspective, the painting is done with a limited, monochromatic-like pallette with strictly controlled brushwork and gentle, golden Venetian style light emanating from the window in the upper left background and illuminating Parmigianino’s features. In the words of Vasari, Parmigianino exhibited features of the “divine” (Art of Parmigianino, 2003) and his gentle use of tenebrism and chiaroscuro lends to the elegant nature of the piece and complements Parmigianino’s intention of exhibiting himself not as a common craftsman, but as a sort of lower nobility risen from the ranks and placed within sight of kings and popes by his talent alone.

From a semiotic perspective, Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror exhibits, in my opinion, two main themes. The first involves his use of light and shade. Traditionally, the forces of good and evil (much present in the mind of 16^th century Europeans) were grouped as the forces of light as opposed to the forces of darkness. Parmigianino was a man much torn by his affinity for the Catholic Church and his darker side that was drawn to the magical theorems of alchemy. In the painting, light pours from the window and is enveloped in a curtain of darkness lurking on the right and center foregrounds of the painting. Also, in traditional Christian iconography, the forces of heaven are portrayed as being on the right hand of the God facing the viewer, while the forces of darkness are portrayed on the left hand of the enthroned Christ. Parmigianino juxtaposed and jumbled up these two forces in the painting, lending creedence to the crowd who supposed that he was a madman. In the middle sits Parmigianino, bedecked in furs and lace and donning a type of signet ring (a whole sign unto itself), master of both light and dark and the mad genius in control of his own destiny. The other predominant sign that I see in this painting consists of the temporance of youth and the immortality of the soul. From a pragmatic perspective, Parmigianino is seen as a gifted, yet vain usurper of the old school, classical Academicians devoted to linear perspective and defined, logical, almost perfect features. Parmigianino was described as “divine” by Vasari, and indeed, he is well proportioned and exhibits angelic aesthetics. From the course Parmigianino’s life took, ever more towards darkness and distortion, his choice of placing himself within a “convex mirror” was very apropos. Although he is master of his own destiny and in control of the forces of both darkness and light, his precocious intelligence and youthful beauty, as time passes, become ever more stretched and distorted until he is torn asunder by the very forces that he sought to control. In this dichotomy of youth versus eternity, Parmigianino retains the mastery, because although he was in fact torn asunder by his own vain assumptions and outright madness (he died at age 37), he is immortalized in the very painting designed to do just that.

From a Marxist perspective, Parmigianino’s self portrait exhibits most of the common themes associated with Marxism. To achieve relevance with this thread of thought, I feel it is important for the reader to realize a few facts from the life of the painter. He was born into a family of eight children, and his father died of the plague when the artist was two years old. He was raised by his uncles, ever in their shadow until his own talent propelled some in Rome to comment that he was “Rafael reborn” (Wikipedia, 2007). In the classic manner, Parmigianino was a self made man, redolent of sweat and the savor of success at a young age. With this success came the corrupting influence of the nobility and the wealthy bourgeios patrons, ever hungry to consume more talent from the rank and file of the proletariat. Born into a family of artisans, risen to the rank of petty noble and destroyed by the very success he savored, Parmigianino is a classic case of the self made man turned sellout and torn to pieces by the class of wealthy, landowning oppressors at the top of the economic food chain. Parmigianino’s ostentatious display of finery such as his lace ruffled shirt and fur lined tunic is clearly, although somewhat tastefully, nouveau riche in style, juxtaposed with his angelic, self satisfied and “forgetful of his origins”serene face saying to all who view him that this is truly a man of the world. Probably the most conspicuous indicator that Parmigianino was a class climber was his choice of recipients for this masterful depiction of the young up and comer: Pope Clement VII, the very pinnacle of the 16^th century social ladder.

In conclusion, I feel it is important for the reader to realize two things about this painting concerning its historical and contemporary value. From a historical perspective, this painting was groundbreaking in style as well as content. As a proponent of the new style today called Mannerism, Parmigianino was one of those who cast aside the traditional, classical, or “perfect” ideal of the luminaries of the Rennaisance, creating a place in the mind of man for the abstract and the dark. Not dark in the sense of medieval or gothic superstitions and chicanery, but dark in the psychological sense. Man confronting himself in a mirror and finding the result to be convex, elongated, torn by conflicting ideologies and desires, erotic yet spriritual, but above all, beautiful and to be desired by angels and demons alike. From a contemporary perspective, Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror beckons us to take an inventory of our own souls. What are our limitations? What can we see within ourselves that is beautiful, or erotic, or vain, or desirous of the light emanating from our cell of solitude, surrounded by darkness and yet undaunted by the voices from the shadows telling us to not reach for the clouds, not to stretch ourselves to master our own destinies? Yes, Parmigianino was a type of visionary, a seer capturing somewhat the feelings of all men and women on his canvas, both the darkness and the light, the young and the eternal, and for that his place in history and the limitless future is secure.

Bibliography

The Art of Parmigianino. David Franklin with an essay by David Ekserdjian: Yale University Press, New Haven and London. 2003.

Wikipedia. Found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parmigianino

Vasari: Lives of the Artists. Found at: http://www.efn.org/~acd/vite/VasariLives.html

Mannerism: The Crisis of the Renaissance and the Origin of Modern Art. Arnold Hauser: Routledge and Kegan Paul, London. 1965.

Dolly (Unfinished)

2007-03-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Dolly

By
Varo Borja

Red Charles of the Ritz looks lovely with a black eye. And a busted lip. My name is Dolly. Dolly Divine.
My cigarette tastes like blood and candy and I’m coming down off that cheap cocaine that the jackass in the next room fed me to get in my pants. Haha. He doesn’t know that I have his wallet stashed in my pretty pink panties and no time to waste with 35 year old, small dicked used car salesmen who can’t get it up unless they’re beating on a woman and cheating on their wives with everything in a skirt. So I grab my pink purse with the silver sequins and I hit the door. I’m down the stairs of this dive in a wink of the eye and out on the street again. The night air is cool and damp, but reassuring. It hides me and my bruises and my bad teeth and my bad dye job that I shoplifted from Walgreens. My heels are too high and they hurt my feet so I take them off and go barefoot. Barefoot and pregnant. That’s what Daddy said. Ever since that nigger raped me back in Memphis last year though, the doc at the emergency room said I could forget about babies. So I came to L.A. All 85 lbs of me with a duffel bag and a dream. I wanted to be a movie star. Just like Marilyn Monroe. Little did I know that there wasn’t much need for movie stars anymore. At least ones from Mississippi. That’s what that man in the white limousine said. He said that I could make it in the porn business. I’d never even seen a porno (besides Daddy’s magazines under the mattress) until I came out here and was in a couple of them. Well, I wasn’t really in them. The man in the limousine said that since I was sixteen that I’d have to be a fluff girl. You know them ones who stand out in the hallway while they’re shooting and keeps the stars erect. The ones that they send out for coffee and cigarettes and that they beat up on when they’re bored. I’ve been beat up a lot. Daddy said that I deserved it. When a man hits me I feel like I’m getting the best of him, and then when I spit blood on the floor and pretty myself up again he loves me just like Daddy did.

The neon lights on sunset remind me of those country western songs that I used to hear on the radio on warm summer’s nights back in Mississippi. I’ve been here in L.A. for a while now, but I still can’t get over them neon signs. One day my name will be written on one of them. I can see it now. Dolly Divine, mistress of the night. I like that. Mistress of the night was one of them dimestore novels that I read when I was a kid. Well, I guess I am still a kid. But L.A. has a way of making you not feel like a kid. A way of making you tough on the outside and all cold on the inside. A way of growing you into a stone statue like them Confederate ones back in Vicksburg.

I’m hungry. I stop walking down Sunset for a minute and pull that hard dick’s wallet out from underneath my leather skirt. 50 bucks, a couple of credit cards and a photo of one of his kids. She looks all pretty with her high school cheerleader’s uniform on and her braces and her face free from blue-black love taps. I stand for a moment and gaze at the photo. I look into her soul. Yeah. She’s got scars. They’re just not on the outside.

I walk into a 7/11 and grab a bag of chips, a Snicker’s bar and a big gulp filled to the rim with 44 oz of Mountain Dew. I walk to the counter and the Arab clerk eyes me suspiciously as I pull out my newly won plastic money and slap it down on the counter next to my dinner like I own the place. I give him a wink and a half caste kind of smile that doesn’t show the bad part of my teeth and say “Its my Daddy’s” and he swipes the card. He hands me the little slip for me to sign and I scribble the name of the jackass that it belongs to in a really feathery way like I think a man of his upbringing might, and then I grab my loot and I’m back on the street.

I sit down outside of the 7/11 on the curb that smells of gasoline and stale piss and I open my chips and nibble a little bit. My stomach hurts nearly all the time, and even though I know with my head that I’m hungry, I can’t seem to stomach all the food. So, I toss the Snicker’s bar and the half empty bag of chips to a bum lying on his back in a liquor soaked fantasy land by the blue and white payphone (I keep the Mountain Dew; I hate water and coffee and Mountain Dew reminds me of Mississippi) and then I start to walk down Sunset again to look for someone to take me home so I don’t have to sleep in some alley that smells of the bums and the dregs of some B movie horrorshow.

The Rooms (Unfinished)

2007-03-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

The Rooms (Unfinished)

by

Varo Borja

Anna sipped her vermouth silently pretending all the while that it was the blood of the man who had left her in this dive holding the check and none of the cards. She wore a black dress, silky and soft and high, high stiletto heels that made her wince just a little when she stepped to the left and out of the narrow confines of the perspective into which she had been placed. Slow jazz reverberated in the smoke filled air as some half caste gypsy savant blew timorous notes from his tenor saxophone, serenading the last call lowlifes and fat businessmen in cheapish business casual attire slovenly slurping the mid grade whiskey that they couldn’t even taste anymore because they had drunk for abandon and the release that a night out of town and away from three kids and a sagging bottom wife could afford them. The signs were good that Anna would be able to scrape one of these fatted calves from his barstool, get him to pay the check, and sneak out of his hotel room while he was puking his guts out in the bidet or the sink or the bathtub. At one time Anna had been a looker. Hell, she still was but she was past the point of her ripest maturity and her 34 DD breasts had turned to 36 E’s over the last five years and her ankles were a bit larger than when she had won that swimsuit competition in Austin years ago. Her dark hair was still as lustrous as ever though, and her almond eyes still could be playful, or conciliatory, or knife like, depending on the situation and whatever was expedient. She’d had her tubes tied years ago after she’d had her third miscarriage and swore that she’d never get pregnant again, regardless of how much her biological clock demanded the retribution of her sex. Anna’s skin was still very good also, and she took care to keep out of the sun and always found time to cleanse, exfoliate, and moisturize her way into keeping the dogs of middle age at bay.

“Hey honey. Wanna buy me drink?” Anna said as she sauntered over to a 300 lb. man tanned hulk in a Brooks Brothers sport coat.

“Suuurrreee. Take’ll ya what? Vurmooth?”

“Sure, sweetie. You look right handsome tonight. You in the for the conference?” Anna could lay it on thick when the need arose, there was always a conference, and the bartender, Fat Mike was giving her the sign that it was now or never.

“Yayah. Its aw-full-ee hot in here, ain’t it?”

Anna noticed the absence of orangish goo around the barbarian’s left ring finger, indicating the fact that his man tan was recently acquired and hadn’t yet penetrated the bonds of matrimony.

“Why yes it is, darlin’. Don’t ya think that we should go somewhere cooler? Say, your room at the Clarion?” Anna prayed silently to the virgin that his room was at least at the Comfort. She threw in an extra Hail Mary for a suite at the Quality.

“Ummm. I’m stayin’ at the Sleep o-vur on Bristol. You wanna cum?”

Anna cringed. These days it was tough to find a man with taste, let alone decency, but she was in dire straits and in need of a lift to her apartment on Manchester. Bristol was a block away and if she took her stiletto’s off, she could easily sneak out with the buffoon’s wallet and make a B-line to her own bed where Max, her black manx patiently awaited her arrival.

“Honey, you’re sweet as apple pie. Anybody ever told you that your jawline resembles Matt Damon’s? You could pass for him any day under the sun.” Anna silently snickered to herself and ran her hand across the prodigious back of the lamb being led to the slaughter.

“Nah. You ain’t a hooowar are ya?” said Mr. Sleep.

“Honey, I’m anything you want me to be, and a hell of a lot that you can’t handle. We ready to blow this pop stand or not, sugarbritches?” Anna loathed being called a whore and her saccharine seduction was wearing thin at the seams, much like Mr. Sleep’s overstuffed, badly cut blazer.

“Okay. But you gotta drive. I’ve had too drink toooo much.” Mr. Sleep stood up slowly, bracing himself on Anna’s left breast and tottering ever so slightly, much like a weeble wobble that’s had a few too many Jim Beams.

Anna and Mr. Sleep (Anna never bothered with names. Her only concern was the size of a man’s wallet and the time it took him to pass out. She did have the last vestiges of a conscience, and the less she actually knew about her prey the better.) made their way to the door after Sleep fumbled about with the tab, spilling the contents of his overstuffed wallet out onto the bar and only being able to reconcile his debt with the help of Fat Mike and…

The Burial of the Count of Orgasz

2007-03-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

The Burial of the Count of Orgasz

By

Varo Borja

This is where El Greco sets before us, in a highly compressed form the wisdom he has brought to his art, his knowledge, his expertise, his composite imagination and his expressive power. –Marina Lambaki-Plaka

This quote, from a noted Art Historian, sums up the power and majesty unfurled by El Greco (Doménicos Theotokópoulos) in his rendering of the Burial of the Count of Orgasz. In this essay I will relate to the reader a small amount of background on The Burial of the Count of Orgasz, attempt an analysis of this famous painting according to the iconography and allegory used, and also offer a summation of why, in my opinion, this painting has lasting value and an appeal that transcends the barriers of time and nationality.

Considered by most to be his greatest painting, The Burial of the Count of Orgasz is the primary decoration for the funerary chapel of Gonzalo de Ruiz, Lord of Orgasz at the parish church at Santo Tome, in Toledo. Ruiz was a very pious man who reigned beneficently in the late 13^th to early 14^th centuries in Toledo. At the time of his death (1323 c.e.), he bequeathed an annual donation to the parish church where he was buried, to be collected from the citizens of Orgasz. According to legend, the Count was so pious and had done so many good works that saints Stephen and Augustine miraculously appeared at his burial and lowered his body into the tomb as a sign of holy favor. The parish church where this miracle occurred (Santo Tome), and which also received the generous donation from the citizenry of Orgasz, also happened to be the same church that the master known as El Greco attended mass on a regular basis with his son. According to El Greco of Toledo (Little, Brown and Company, Boston), “Around 1562, the people of Orgasz decided to stop making the annual donation, probably hoping that the memory of the bequest would slip into oblivion.” However, due to the shrewdness of the parish priest, the donation was resumed after an award from the chancellery in Valladolid in the parish’s favor in the matter. The renewed donation allowed for the chapel of the Count to be remodeled, and was substantial enough for a funerary painting to be undertaken. El Greco was named as the painter of the new work, and the result was to be his masterpiece, The Burial of the Count of Orgasz.

According to Wikipedia, El Greco obtained his commission for The Burial of the Count of Orgasz on March 12, 1586. He was given very simple instructions as to the composition of the work, with the primary focus given to the miracle of saints Stephen and Augustine lowering the body of the Count into his grave. It is worth quoting the source of El Greco’s instructions from the parish priest, Andre Nuñez de Madrid, for the painting here, as they are quite brief and illuminate the general composition of the piece:

“This is to be done on canvas down to the epitaph. Below the epitaph there is to be a fresco in which the sepulcher is painted. On the canvas, he is to paint the scene in which the parish priest and other clerics were saying the prayers, about to bury Don Gonzalo de Ruiz, Lord of Orgasz, when Saint Augustine and Saint Stephen descended to bury the body of this gentleman, one holding the head and the other the feet, and placing him in the sepulcher. Around the scene should be many people who are looking at it and, above all this, there is to be an open sky showing the glory of the heavens.” (El Greco of Toledo, pg. 125)

It went without saying that the piece was to have elements reinforcing Counter Reformation doctrine, two of which I will discuss shortly. According to El Greco of Toledo, a lengthy Latin inscription was composed by Dr. Alvar Gomez de Castro (a poet residing in Toledo) that read in part that the chapel was donated “Beneficis et Pietati” –to the beneficent and pious saints, the saints who performed good works. El Greco worked this epitaph into the painting as a means of furthering Counter Reformation theology, which insisted that salvation might be obtained by good works, as well as faith. The impetus for the miracle concerned with the Count was said to have been his lavish donations to the clergy and his beneficence to the poor during his lifetime, thereby confirming that good works were a means to salvation. The Protestants in England, Holland, and Germany, led primarily by the pen of such men as John Calvin, denied the acquisition of salvation by good works and insisted that salvation by grace through faith was the only means of escaping the fires of Hell.

Another important Counter Reformation idea is shown through the content of the work in both zones of the painting. This idea is the intercession of the saints and Mary for entrance into heaven. As is shown, the Count in the earthly realm is being lowered into his grave by saints Augustine and Stephen (Augustine on the right, young Stephen on the left) and in the heavenly realm, the naked and supplicant count is being welcomed in and interceded for by the heavenly saints and the Virgin Mary, who plays a predominant role in the painting. The Virgin is displayed in her typical, Byzantine iconographic garb of red and blue (El Greco hailed originally from Crete, a land under the influence of the Byzantine church) signifying perhaps the blood of Christ and her own tears for the faithful. Christ is displayed in the center of the heavenly realm of the painting in his traditional iconographic loincloth of white (signifying purity), but he is displayed more as an afterthought, or as a type of given in a theorem relying primarily on the emphasis given to the saints and the Virgin Mary. Saints Stephen and Augustine are portrayed in rich vestments of gold and silk, signifying their earthly authority as well as the glory given to them in heaven. The funeral of the count is rendered with a litany of what most scholars believe to be the likenesses of the most famous personages of Toledo at the time, also weeping and interceding for him from an earthly standpoint, therefore giving them accord with the idea of intercession after death by the living, another Counter Reformation tenet.

In conclusion, I feel that it is important to realize that although this painting was executed at a time of great hostility due to the schism of the Church, it retains much that is pertinent to us today. In the lower left hand corner of the painting, El Greco portrayed a likeness of his son Jorge Manuel, with, according to Belinda Coles, a small handkerchief in his pocket. To quote her: “If you were able to take a closer look at this painting, you would find on the handkerchief of the boy in the painting, the artist's own signature, as well as the date '1578' - the year of Jorge Manuel's birth. The boy points to the body of the deceased, thus bringing together birth and death.” The artist is trying to convey a message to us here, I feel, that future generations must continue to uphold that which is right and holy, and to not fear death and the grave. By giving his own son such close proximity with the deceased, it is almost as if he is saying that the human soul dies and is constantly reborn, much as Christ was after his crucifixion and as we can be, through good works as well as faith. Also, El Greco adorned the attendees of the funeral in contemporary dress, signifying the utterly up to date concern of the saints for the souls of the living and the dead, and God’s ever renewed interest in mankind and his attainment of salvation. His depiction of heaven in the work is timeless, reassuring us that underlying all is the assurance of the Blessed Realm, a place of rest and redemption for those that carry out the will of God and live to good purpose here on this temporal plane. El Greco was a man of vision. His work wasn’t truly appreciated until the time of the abstract expressionists such as Jackson Pollack and the cubist movement headed by Picasso. With such a far reaching legacy in the field of painting, and the powerful allegories that he presented, El Greco is truly one of the great masters of Westen Art, and The Count of Orgasz, as his masterpiece, one of the greatest paintings of all time.

Bibliography

El Greco of Toledo: Johnathon Brown, William B. Jordan, Richard L. Kagan, Alfonso E. Perez-Sanchez. Little Brown and Company, Boston. 1982.

Wikipedia: found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Greco

Belinda Coles.htm: found at: http://www.edu.pe.ca/rural/class_webs/art/belinda_coles.htm

The Venetian Republic in the Time of the Bellini

2007-02-20T23:02:00.000-08:00

The Venetian Republic in the Time of the Bellini

Varo Borja

When he is best, he is a little worse than a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast.

William Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice", Act 1 scene 2
English dramatist & poet (1564 - 1616)

In this essay I will attempt to relate to the reader the state of the Venetian Republic in the time of the Bellini family (c. 1400-1516 c.e.). The Bellini were a family of painters who resided and worked in the Venetian Republic, for the most part, and helped to change the face of art as we know it today. I will also give a few examples of the body of work of the Bellini, as well as a summary of how I feel the social and economic conditions in the Venetian Republic affected the style and content of the work of the Bellini family and how their work helped influence succeeding generations.

Venice is located in the Northeastern section of Italy known as the Veneto region. According to macalester.edu, Venice is referred to as the “miracle of the Northeast”. Also, according to macalester.edu, Venice is one of the fastest growing cities in Italy in terms of population and economy. Venice rests in the center of a shallow lagoon in the Northwestern corner of the Adriatic Sea. The Adriatic separates the Italian peninsula from the mainland of the Slavic states. In 1500, Jacopo de’Barbari, the Venetian painter and printmaker, made this map of the Serenissima (a name for the Republic of Venice; means literally “the serene” (Wikipedia, 2007)).

Venice was not always prosperous, however, for at the time de'Barbari's map was made (1500 c.e.), she was on the verge of being ravaged by internecine wars with a coalition of states known as the League of Cambrai, (organized by the humanist pope Julius II) and war with the Ottoman Empire was just around the bend. Due to her favorable geography, the city of Venice proper was never threatened with invasion, but as a trading empire with very little natural resources of her own, Venice was very reliant on her conquests and trade routes to fund her government and to continue in the manner to which she was accustomed. According to Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian (Yale University Press, 2006), “In 1509 the Venetian Republic was very nearly wiped off the face of the map. The invasion overran the whole Venetian terraferma except Treviso, reaching as far as Mestre, from where the bombardment was audible in Venice itself.” In other words, most of the surrounding provinces, owned or under the influence of the Venetian Republic and on which she heartily depended for sustenance, were cut off like a babe from it’s mother’s breast.

The precursor to the heyday of 15^th century Venice was the conquest of the most of the Italian peninsula by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the signore of Milan. According to historyworld.net, Gian Galeazzo was “a voracious conqueror, suspected in his own time of harboring the ambition to become king of all Italy. He systematically seized the territories of lesser signori. Those lying between Milan and Venice included Verona and Vicenza, two cities ruled by the della Scala family (known also as Scaliger in the Latin version of their name). Vicenza fell to Gian Galeazzo in 1384 and Verona in 1387. His next target was Padua, ruled by the Carrara family, which he took in 1388.” However, before he could consolidate his conquests, Galeazzo died of the plague in 1402, leaving Venice in a prime position to play the part of the “jackal after the feast of the Lion” (historyworld.net). Venice picked up the pieces of Galeazzo’s conquests, not only adding prime trade routes for their merchant fleet in the Middle East (independently of the Galeazzo affair), but annexing the Veneto plain (named, like Venice, for an Indo European tribe, The Veneti (historyworld.net)) and territories to the north and west of the capital.

In the mid to late 15^th century, Venice acquired more territory and flowered as no other Italian state did during this time. Her Mediterranean trade empire was unrivalled in splendor and elegance, and she was able to produce the last great revival of Gothic architecture, as well as a marvelous tradition for printmaking. According to historyworld.net, Venice captured “Brescia (1426) followed by Bergamo (1428), gains from Milan which are acknowledged in the peace of Lodi (1454). With this rich hinterland, and a string of Mediterranean islands all the way to Cyprus…” Venice had built a Mediterranean empire of epic proportions. However, with the discovery of the Americas and the new trade routes that opened because of that discovery, the League of Cambrai, formed to check Venetian expansion on the mainland, as well as the Turkish conquest of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), Venice was due for a rapid decline from the pinnacle of her power from the beginning of the 16^th century onwards. However, war and famine have never been the anathema of the arts. So much progress was made, regardless of unfavorable economic and political circumstances, under the influence of the Bellini and their successors.

It is ironic, however, that during her heyday the taste of the ruling class of Venetians (Venice was an oligarchy, ruled by a closed nobility but with a citizen, or cittadino Chancellor) was mostly rooted in the outdated forms of the International Gothic and Byzantine traditions which favored gold leaf, wispy, ethereal figures and the medieval penchant for doom and gloom instead of the Classical themes of most of the rest of Italy, that were imbued with eroticism and humanist sympathies. Maybe as a result of focusing on the accumulation of wealth and overseas empire, the Venetians needed a stable base from which to launch such enterprises, therefore fostering greater control by the clergy and the nobility over the libertine tendencies of artists working in the early to mid Quattrocento era, as well as other facets of possible internal strife or perceived moral decay. Furthermore, as a result of the loss of these conquests and the marginalizing of Venetian prospects for economic and political domination, it seems that Venice needed a new outlet for her precocious populace: the Arts.

The Bellini family (Jacopo, Gentile, and Giovanni) witnessed more than a century of this rise and retraction of power, and benefited from it in a cultural sense, as well as a purely aesthetic one. Because of the open lines of trade and Venetian hegemony after the fall of Gian Galeazzo, Jacopo Bellini was able to travel to Florence in 1420 with his eldest son, Gentile (Art Across Time, Vol. 2) as well sojourn in Padua for a time, picking up elements of early and High Renaissance style along the way. By the time of Gentile’s maturity as a painter, he had been to Constantinople (Istanbul) to paint the portrait of Sultan Mehmet; once again as a result of the ever-expanding sphere of influence of the Venetian republic in the Mediterranean. As has already been stated though, much of Jacopo and Gentile Bellini’s works reflected heavily the Gothic and Byzantine traditions, featuring elements such as gold leaf and an almost ghostlike rendering of the human form. Giovanni Bellini’s work, however, began to shed the Quattrocento style of Venice and deigned to give birth to a lineage of painting resembling more the Flemish and Northern Italian schools than any of the previous Venetian traditions. The trade routes forged by Venice during the 15^th century and the lines of communication fostered by those trade routes with the rest of Europe gave Giovanni Bellini a wealth of material to base his style upon. It is supposed by most scholars that he was able to view some of the paintings of Flemish artists such as Van Eyck and particularly Roger Van der Weyden. Giovanni’s rendering of Doge Leonardo Loredan (see header) owed much more to Van der Weyden’s heightened sense of realism than it did to the craggy or overly ethereal figures favored by previous Venetian painters. The expression on the Doge’s face, one of serenity (much like the Serenissima which he ruled) in the face of overwhelming odds, the delicate embroidery of his vestment, and the gold light suffusing all, hearkening in a new era for the illumination of the hearts and minds of the Venetian republic, instead of the cold glow of gold from the coffers won at the expense of her priceless soul. In the words of Laurie Schneider Adams (Art Across Time, Vol. 2) Giovanni Bellini certainly was “in the forefront of Renaissance innovation”.

In conclusion, I think it is important to realize that the Bellini family not only created art that reflected the times and circumstances in which they lived, but they also provided, through their own genius and the tutelage of such famous painters as Giorgione and Titian, the impetus for the continuing growth and change of the arts and culture for not only the Venetian Republic, but for much of the Western World. After the defeats at the hands of the Papal legions yoked together by the League of Cambrai, Venice eventually regained much of her former status and autonomy. Rome was eventually sacked by Imperial troops under Charles V in 1527, paying in kind the haughty aspirations of the papacy and inadvertently rejuvenating the Venetian republic, even though the Venetians, through ties to the papacy via the League of Cognac, were on the losing side as well. However, with the coming of the Protestant Reformation in 1517 and the eventual Counter Reformation of 1545, the papacy regained it’s former hegemony and instituted a severe yoke upon the Roman Catholic world: The Inquisition. Rules and regulations were instituted upon the world of culture as well as every other facet of the lives of millions of the citizens of Southern Europe and the New World. However, by regaining it’s autonomy, the Republic of Venice acted as a type of counter balance to the counter- reformation, a real Serenissima amidst the storm of political and religious intolerance and backbiting bigotry. Perhaps then, the Bellini played a part in priming the fire for continued liberty of the arts among the riparian lanes of the capital of the Veneto, suffused with the golden yellow light captured by Giovanni Bellini and illuminating the hearts and minds of the Western world with a spiritual sunbeam of freedom on the horizon of a land filled with renewed darkness and the cruelty of thwarted pride.

Bibliography

Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian: David Alan Brown and Sylvia Ferino-Pagden. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. 2006.

Art Across Time: Vol. 2: Laurie Schneider Adams. McGraw Hill, Boston. 2007.

Wikipedia. Found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Historyworld.net. Found at:http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=432&HistoryID=aa43

Veniceblog. Found at: http://veniceblog.typepad.com/veniceblog/2004/03/jacopo_de_barba.html

Macalester.edu. Found at: http://www.macalester.edu/courses/geog61/ataff/Physical%20Geography.htm

The Sadducees

2007-02-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

The Sadducees

By

Varo Borja

“Take heed and beware the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees” – Matthew 16:6, KJV

In this essay I will attempt to define what a Sadducee was, both in Jesus’ day, as well as the late years of the B.C. period. I will also try to relate some of the scripture in which they were mentioned, and give a brief account of this notorious sect’s existence, as well as a few of the reasons for its downfall.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the sect known as the Sadducees was organized into a coherent unit in the 2^nd century B.C., and the term “Sadducee” was originally connected with the old reference to righteousness, found in the term “tsaddiquim”. This has been discredited, however, for various reasons and most scholars now trace the origin of the word Sadducee to the obscure priest of Old Testament times known simply as “Zadok” (the term Sadducee taken from “Zadokite”). The best known “Zadok” in history was, according to the Pictorial Bible Dictionary, the Davidic High Priest from the book of Samuel (II Sam. 8:17), from whom all the high priests of the Jewish faith trace their lineage. This Zadok was descended from Aaron through the line of Eleazar (1 Chron. 24:3), and was instrumental in the return of the ark (II Sam. 15:24-29). According to the prophet Ezekiel, the sons of Zadok remained faithful to God when the Israelites went astray, so they would inherit the priesthood from that period on. Another source says that the Sadducees may have taken their name from a different Zadok. This particular Zadok taught obedience to God without thought of a future reward, and this philosophy was much in line with what the Sadducees believed.

The Jewish historian Josephus stated that the Sadducees were a sect made up of only the wealthiest Jews, and they “had not the people on their side” (see Pictorial Bible Dictionary pg. 741). The Sadducees were the first proponents of Hellenism in the region now known as Israel, and they were staunch supporters of Alexander the Great. They also supported Antiochus Epiphanes, and took no part in the Maccabean revolt that was organized and prosecuted by the Pharisees. The Sadducees, contrary to common knowledge, were not doctrinally in line with the Pharisees. The Pharisees supported a litany of age-old traditions and customs not found in canonical word of God, whereas the Sadducees only supported traditions that were based in scripture. Josephus said “The Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the Law of Moses; and it is for that reason that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written Word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers (in this they were more in line with the teachings of Jesus than is sometimes supposed), and concerning these things it is that great differences have arisen between them (the Sadducees and the Pharisees)”.

Another belief inherent to the Sadducees was the denial of a resurrection of the body, personal immortality, and retribution in a future life (Pictorial Bible Dict. Pg. 741). Josephus said, “The doctrine of the Sadducees is this: that the soul dies with the body.” He also said “They also take away the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades”. In this ideology they were much in line with the Epicureans, who believed in the death of the soul with the body, and the enjoyment of earthly pleasures. This is one example of the Hellenistic aspect of the Sadducees. The New Testament states that the Sadducees denied the resurrection of the body (see Matt. 22:23, Mark 12:18, Luke 20:27, and Acts 4: 1,2) but it does not mention their belief in the absence of immortality and future retribution (see Pictorial Bible Dictionary, pg. 741).

The Sadducees also denied the existence of angels and demons. This is somewhat of a paradox, considering the Sadducees believed inherently in the Old Testament, but it might be explained in their disdain for the Pharisees, who held fantastic beliefs about angels and demons and their powers concerning mortal men.

Lastly, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Sadducees differed from the prevailing sects of the day on the very controversial matter of predestination and the human will. According to Josephus, the Sadducees “Take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and the events of human affairs are not at its disposal, but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly.” Most of Josephus’ writings about the Sadducees are scathing rebukes, but this one is interesting. He inherently states that the Sadducees, at least in idea, took responsibility for their own actions and held themselves up as the highest peak and the lowest nadir of what could be considered good and evil. The Sadducees must have, at least in part, gleaned this philosophy from the Stoic school of thought. The influence of Hellenism is very obvious in this regard as well.

According to the Pictorial Bible Dictionary, the Sadducees are mentioned in the New Testament only about a dozen times (Matt. 3:7; 16: 1,6, 11; 22:23,24; Mark 12:18; Luke 20:27; Acts 4:1; 5:17; 23:6-8 respectively), but when mention is made of chief priests the NT is virtually talking of the same group of people. However, according to the Companion to Classical Civilization, “Some overlap between these groups is certain, but some influential priests (including high priests) were not Sadducees, and there is no reason to doubt that some Sadducees were not priests”. The priest Gamaliel was one of these exceptions. He was a Pharisee, and more compassionate toward the Christians than most.

To quote the Pictorial Bible Dictionary, “They (the Sadducees) seem mostly to have ignored Jesus, at least in the early part of his ministry. Jesus directed his criticism against the Pharisees, although once he warned his disciples against the ‘leaven of the Sadducees’ (Matt. 16: 6,11). With the Pharisees, they asked Jesus to show them a sign from heaven (Matt. 16:1). They resented his cleansing of the temple (Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45), and were filled with indignation at his claim of the Messianic title, “Son of David” (Matt. 21:15). They tried to discredit him in the eyes of the people and get him in trouble with the Roman power by their questions to his authority (Matt. 21:23), as to the resurrection (Matt. 22:23), and as to the lawfulness of paying tribute to Caesar (Luke 20:22). They joined the scribes and the Pharisees in their attempt to destroy him (Mark 11:18; Luke 19:47). They sat in the Sanhedrin, which condemned him, and the chief priest who presided (Caiaphas) was a member of their party. In their opposition they were most influenced by their fear that a Messianic movement led by him would bring political ruin (John 11:49).

In short, a Sadducee was a type of Jewish patrician, or Tory. Foremost in their minds was power, and the preservation of the status quo. They gleaned most of their prestige from their alliance with the Roman government, which was the real power in the region. According to the Book of Acts and the writings of Josephus, the Sadducees harassed and made captive some prominent leaders of the early church, including Peter and John. Also, according to Josephus, the Sadducees were responsible for the death of the Apostle James, the brother of Jesus Christ. According to the Pictorial Bible Dictionary and other sources that I’ve consulted, the Sadducees disappeared after the Jewish revolt in A.D. 70 and the consequent destruction of the Temple.

In conclusion, it seems to me that the Sadducees existed as a sort of mediary between the Jews and, first, the legions of Alexander the Great, then those of Antiochus Epiphanes, and then the Romans. They existed as a sort of despised theocracy, totally dependent on the pleasure of whoever the conquering nation was at the time. Although their principles were admirable and based somewhat in truth, they were despised for their reluctance to relinquish the crusts of power from the table of the Romans, and for their elitist mentality. In modern times, they could be compared somewhat to the old moneyed elite who, with very little virtue and exclusive membership privileges, dictate to the rest of mankind how he should behave, without giving any substance as to what he should believe. The Pharisees were, in my opinion, a more virtuous sect based wholly on their disdain for the treachery of alliance with the Roman government and their more strenuous observance of the laws of God. However, the Sadducees did have, in my opinion, one redeeming virtue. This was their doctrine that the “traditions” of the Pharisees were bunk and that a Jew should only adhere to what is written in the word of God. Perhaps this is why Jesus was not so unkind to the Sadducees as he was to the Pharisees. The Sadducees, for the most part, claimed to hold sway only over the realm of the material (they denied an afterlife, and didn’t believe in spirits), while the Pharisees claimed to hold sway over the realm of the spiritual, as well as the material. Perhaps in this the Sadducees committed the lesser sin of the two.

Bibliography

The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth. Oxford University Press, 1998. Oxford and New York.

The Holy Bible, King James Version. Ronald King Murray, Lord Advocate. Edinburgh, 1975.

The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary. Edited by Merril C. Tenney. Zondervan Publishing House, 1963. Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Catholic Encyclopedia. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13323a.htm

Info on Flavius Josephus. (as a source for links): http://josephus.yorku.ca/links-texts.htm

Basquiat Interview

2007-01-29T14:43:00.000-08:00

Jean Michel Basquiat 1960-1988.

The Irish Contribution

2007-01-29T13:57:00.000-08:00

The Irish Contribution

by

Varo Borja

The Golden Age of Ireland took place roughly from 600 to 800 A.D., and is a shining accomplishment for a people who before and after this period were and are somewhat relegated to obscurity. The Golden Age was a time of extreme courage, devout learning, and disciplined scholarship by the Irish people, but it had its foundations in a much earlier time. In this essay I will attempt to briefly discuss the period leading up to the Golden Age, the Golden Age itself and why it has been given that name, some of the accomplishments of the Golden Age, and why it ended.

First, I will attempt to shine a little light on the period preceding the Golden Age of Ireland. Roman Britain, in the early 5^th century, was a deteriorating province on the very edges of a sick and corrupted Empire. Internal strife, external pressure (by the barbarians surrounding the Empire on all sides), and an ever weakening military structure had almost completely crippled the Roman Empire by the year 410 A.D, when Rome itself was sacked by the Visigoths. In that year, the Roman Emperor Honorius sent word to the province of Britain that it would have to fend for itself. The Roman legions, who had protected the Romano Briton populace from the inroads of the Celts (who were based in Ireland), and the Picts, (who were indigenous to Scotland), pulled out of Britain (modern day England) and left the helpless people to make out as best they could. The barbarian hordes came sporadically at first, but then in much greater numbers until the old Roman civilization of Britain was crumbled into the dust. During this tumultuous time, a young Romano Briton boy named Patrick was captured by a Celtic slave trader named Niall of the Nine Hostages. Patrick (c.389-461 A.D.) was a lad of sixteen, and when he arrived in Ireland he was sold to a shepherd for labor in that field. During Patrick’s enslavement, he converted to Christianity. There are legends that say he had a life-changing dream in which he saw himself as the Apostle to the Irish. He escaped back to the mainland of Britain, but he didn’t forget his experiences during his captivity. Patrick went into the priesthood in Gaul (France), where he studied and was ordained in 417 A.D. He was commissioned to the church at Auxerre, and spent 15 years there. His first bid to be a missionary to the Irish was declined because of an obscure sin in his childhood. But when Palladius (first bishop to the Irish, ordained 431 by Pope Celestius 1) died suddenly, Patrick’s bid was accepted and he was ordained Bishop to the Irish in 432 A.D. and he started on his almost lifelong dream of evangelizing the Irish.

On his arrival in Ireland, Patrick set to work converting the people of Northern Ireland. He had great success with the commoners, who accepted his message of everlasting life beyond the grave with enthusiasm (not surprisingly; their lives were characterized by extreme hardship and toil in the present world), but he had more difficulty with the nobles. The Ard-Ri, or High King of the Irish kept much of his power by also anointing himself head of the pagan religion indigenous to that region: Druidism. Druidism was a type of animistic faith based on nature and the spirits of animals and plants (especially trees), and had been practiced in Ireland for centuries. Compared to some other pagan faiths it was somewhat benign, but it did involve the occasional sacrifice of infants to goddesses such as Rhianon, who was the bringer of fertility. The Brehons (or law givers) were also opposed to the faith of Patrick, because the Christian religion would institute new laws that were interpreted by priests instead of themselves. The nobility of Ireland was not uneducated (at that time) however. They had a long tradition of oral teaching. This was another reason the higher classes of Celts were opposed to Patrick’s brand of faith. Christianity brought the written word; a thing foreign and considered to be evil by the Druidic priests.

However, Patrick did plant the seeds of faith in good soil, and only about 35 years after his death, much of the island was Christian, including almost all the nobility. Patrick was a staunch supporter of the doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome, and the new faith of the Irish was almost completely Orthodox in nature. The only variance was the Irish people’s reluctance to give up the old Brehon law of easy divorce and remarriage.

Perhaps one of Patrick’s greatest contributions to the Western World was his development of the monastery schools in Ireland where learning flourished and the Hiberno-Saxon style of illuminated manuscripts developed. The Irish monks were very talented at copying such works as the Bible and other texts from the ancient world into elaborate “codices” or books. During this period much of the learning of the Western World fell into decay and the people of the European continent regressed into barbarism. Not so with the Irish though, who through a combination of fortunate geography and devout Christianity were able to “save” much of the literature of the ancient world. Also, the Irish were devoted missionaries. They spread the faith of Patrick first to the mainland of Britain, and then on to the continent of Europe and as far as Germany and modern day Poland. The Irish monasteries focused on a standard curriculum that consisted of courses in Greek and Latin, as well as the Seven Liberal Arts, which were divided up into the trivium and the quadrivium. The trivium consisted of grammar (or the art of writing), rhetoric (the art of speaking), and dialectic (the art of reasoned argument). The quadrivium consisted of arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music. It is interesting to note that these are the same subjects that were studied in ancient Greece during the Classical and Hellenistic periods at such places as Plato’s Academy and other schools throughout the ancient world.

By the 6^th century, Irish monastery-schools were considered the most elite sources for classical education in all the Western World. St. Columba (c.521-597 A.D.), or “The Dove of the Church”, founded a monastery on the obscure island of Iona, off the coast of Caledonia (Scotland) and spent the last years of his life converting the Scots to Christianity and educating them. A very intellectually prosperous school was founded there, and this is where the famed “Book of Kells” was created in the late 8^th and early 9^th centuries A.D. (see photo in the header). St. Columbanus (543 A.D. to 615 A.D.) was another Irish monk who founded dozens of schools on the mainland of Europe, a couple of which gained great renown for their scholarship and mission work. By the beginning of the 9^th century, Irish monk/scholars were considered to be the cream of the crop of the Western World. Johann Scotus, or “Eriugena” was the foremost of these. He traveled to France in 845 A.D., and soon became the leading light at the courts of Charlemagne and Charles the Bald, Charlemagne’s grandson.

Sadly, the Golden Age of Ireland was drawing to a close around the end of the 9^th century A.D. with the beginning of the Viking (Scandinavian) invasions into Ireland and the resurgence of the power of the Roman church. Also, with the death of Charlemagne, the great Renaissance enacted by that illustrious ruler began to deteriorate, leaving learning in the lurch and ushering in more violence. The civil war fought over the empire left by Charlemagne drained the resources of the continent and impeded the progress of the more peaceful arts of literature and classical studies in favor of those of the art of war. However, according to most scholars, the impact of the Golden Age of Ireland was felt for many centuries to come.

In conclusion, the story of the Golden Age of Ireland had somewhat a hint of irony about it. The Irish, who for centuries before the mission of Patrick, had been living in the darkness of superstition and without the written word, and after the Golden Age, in our own time, have been racked with terrorism by such groups as the Irish Republican Army and various Protestant terrorist groups, have never been a people of rest. They have always put their collective hearts into everything they have done; be it violence, religion, or scholarship. It is highly ironic that a people characterized by the typical “Irish drunkard” actually saved Western Civilization by their temperance, devoted scholarship, and zeal for the Christian faith. Another bit of irony exists in the base that the Patriarch of the Irish people, Patrick, used for his conversion of the island to Roman Catholicism. That base was Armagh, a town now known for its largely Protestant population. An old saying exists about the Irish people, and I’ll repeat it now: God gave the Irish whiskey to keep them from taking over the world. In the light of the Golden Age of Ireland, perhaps this saying is true, but to quote Thomas Cahill, author of “How the Irish Saved Civilization”, “If the future is to be changed, it will be the saints that do it."

Surrealism ala Sister Wendy

2007-01-28T00:42:00.000-08:00

Sister Wendy ist rad.

Fight To Survive

2007-01-28T00:29:00.000-08:00

Wanna get the scoop on what's really going on Iraq? Check out Fight to Survive. This most excellent blog has been put together by some of the real eye witnesses to the "war on terror". These guys lay it all out there in black and white, and present a striking contrast to the lard assed, boozed up, flag waving "Country" singers toting big fat paychecks and little or no dignity or credibility. This blog is first rate in content as well as composition. I'm honored to be able to list it on my page. You'll find it, once again, under News on the right.

American Short Timer

2007-01-28T00:07:00.000-08:00

I've read several posts from this man's blog, and he makes a lot of sense. Shame that war can make a man so cynical, but hey, I'm cynical and I've only had a few shots fired in anger in my direction. Mainly from jilted trailer brides with bottles of Jack in their non-gun wielding hands. Check him out. If he doesn't change the way you see the world, he'll at least avert your gaze for a moment from the newest big bosomed blonde trying to sell you a fluglebinder. Edit: I couldn't get the link to work, so I went ahead and put his blog under news. You'll find it to the right in the links section. peace.

Man in a Red Turban

2007-01-26T07:19:00.000-08:00

Jan Van Eyck: Man in a Red Turban

Varo Borja

In this essay I will attempt to show the importance of Jan Van Eyck's Man in a Red Turban, and also give a small amount of background on Van Eyck. I will also, using art terminology, attempt to analyze Man in a Red Turban from three different schools in the study of art history: formalism, Marxism, and psychoanalysis.

Jan Van Eyck was born, according to artchive.com, somewhere around "1390 in the village of Maaseyck near Maastricht." Jan had an older brother named Hubert, of whom little is known other than Jan held him in the highest regard as a painter, and also as a sibling. Jan Van Eyck's ability began to recognized at a fairly young age, and he was noticed by members of the clergy and nobility who afforded him opportunities for employment:

"Between 1422 and 1424, he was employed as a painter by John of Bavaria, Bishop of Liège; the next year, 1425, his famous relationship with Philip the

Good, Duke of Burgundy, began. As court artist and equerry, he moved to Philip's court at Lille. Few such cases of mutual serendipity adorn the history of Renaissance patronage: instead of treating his artist as something between a jongleur and an artisan, as the Medici in their off moments were apt to do, Philip was moved to declare that he 'would never find a man so much to his taste, or such a paragon of science and art.' (artchive.com)"

Jan was considered by Phillip the Good to be of inestimable worth, and Jan's salary was paid often at the expense of other facets of the ducal economy. Jan prospered under the benefaction of Phillip the Good, and he was also afforded the luxury of travel. He made a trip to the Iberian peninsula in Phillip's entourage for his (Phillip's) betrothal to the princess Isabelle of Portugal, and he also mingled with the finest personages of the Burgundian court, including the wealthy Italian, Giovanni Arnolfini.

Jan Van Eyck was a master of realism. He is considered to fall between the end of the Gothic period and the beginning of the Renaissance. His style was an admixture of the elements of humanism and the genuine interest in the human figure as an ideal to be admired for itself, and the cold, calculating, baroque (in the words of Henri Focillon) elements of high Gothic. Jan Van Eyck's seeming self-portrait, Man in a Red Turban (figure 13.66 in Art Across Time), is closer to the former of these styles than the latter. From a formalist perspective, this painting symbolizes everything great about the Northern early renaissance style. Upon viewing this piece, the eye travels upward from Van Eyck's chin to the lush adornment of his scarlet chaperone (see page 533 in Art Across Time). The chaperone, or turban has a mixture of diagonal lines of lighter value than the rest of Van Eyck's clothing. The deep red color of the headdress gives us a feeling of warmth, in contrast to the cold, but serene expression found on Van Eyck's face. The sheer beauty of the folds of the headdress denotes the time expended on the work and Van Eyck's mastery of realism and space. Van Eyck's lips are thin and pursed in a sort of pedantic expression, but his eyes exude great wisdom and lend an aura of serenity to the pose. Van Eyck has a great sense of balance, especially in the line down the center of the headdress, and he also exhibits a brilliant sense of humor: the grave nature of his facial expression in contrast with the ridiculousness of his choice of hats. In a way, he has poked fun at his own erudition by making the very seat of his learning, his brain, the focal point of our amusement. This sense of humor is one of the finer qualities of Renaissance humanism, and is a marked departure from the elaborate scenes of damnation to be found in much of Gothic art and architecture.

However, from a Marxist perspective, more elements of the portrait come to life. Van Eyck was a functionary of the Burgundian court, but still relegated to the level of bourgeois. In a typical mode of class struggle, Jan Van Eyck could have been viewed as a type of upwardly mobile worker. In an attempt to be recognized, Van Eyck signed his paintings with elaborate faux-engravings and also added little puns and jokes in an attempt to please the upper echelons of society with his apparent humility. In Man with a Red Turban, Van Eyck faux-engraved "Als Ich Kan" (which are the first words of the proverb "As I can, but not as I would"). (Art Across Time pg. 533) The pun, and the self- promotion may be found in the word "Ich", which in a play on words resembles "Eyck". According to oneata.edu, "The inclusion of the signatures and mottoes suggests that they are part of van Eyck's design to articulate his privilege as court painter. He could be like a court official and witness events and produce documents that have ducal sanction. It is also possible that van Eyck is making a claim for a change in social status. One of the rewards sought after by bourgeois functionaries attached to the ducal court would be gaining noble status from the duke in recognition for their loyal service." The early renaissance was a time of great opportunity and progressive ideologies. In the middle ages, it was nearly impossible for a man born outside of the nobility to achieve noble status. With the coming of classical ideas of government, humanistic views of man as a whole and the possibility of fame and fortune tied to a profession other than war or the clergy, it was natural for Van Eyck to assert his claim to a better life for himself and his family. With enough learning, skill, and perseverance, a man might climb out of the common ranks and join that illustrious set of personages at the top of the social ladder. Another element found in Man with a Red Turban that might reflect Marxist undertones is the color choice of Van Eyck's head adornment. The color red had long been associated with the clergy, more specifically with the Cardinals of the Church of Rome. In a bold stroke, Van Eyck has equated his own profession with the priesthood. In other words, learning, skill, perseverance and new ideas might usurp the old hierarchy of religion and nobility, and create a new priesthood based on merit rather than birthright.

Finally, I will add a few thoughts from the school of psychoanalysis. Obviously, Van Eyck is an obsessive compulsive. His far-reaching obsession with attention to detail belies the torture inflicted upon a man by his own neurotic preoccupation with perfection. Van Eyck, though feigning humility, could also be seen as a sort of narcissist. His revolutionary method of signing his own works in such bold tones was a type of schism with the accepted conventions of the old world. Van Eyck's preoccupation with achieving that "new priesthood" could be interpreted as a vain bolstering of his own ego, with the reflection of self hatred found in his little puns and the obfuscation of self found in paintings such as The Arnolfini Portrait. Van Eyck, however, could see Man in a Red Turban, as an attempt at self-love, and a sort of redemptive ridiculousness for his own vanity can be found in the humorous aspect of that portrait.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I have admired Van Eyck for years. Being a type of perfectionist myself, especially concerning my own form of artistic expression, I can empathize with him on a very deep level. When I was a child, I would tear up drawing after drawing because I couldn't capture a scene as I thought it should be captured. Attention to detail can be a type of double-edged sword wielded against ourselves sometimes with unyielding fury. In Van Eyck's case, however, it was this same attention to detail that separated him from his contemporaries and relegated his work to the halls of greatness. More than this though, Van Eyck, through the details embodied in his work, captured the beauty of a period in history that might have been lost, in part, to posterity if it were not for his efforts. For that accomplishment alone, we should be truly grateful to him for his efforts.

Bibliography

Art Across Time, 3^rd edition: Laurie Schneider Adams. McGraw Hill, Boston. 1999.

Art of the West: Henri Focillon. Phaidon Press Ltd, London. 1963.

Oneata.edu: found at: http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/ARTH/arth214_folder/van_eyck/court_painter.html

Artchive.com: found at: http://artchive.com/artchive/V/van_eyck.html

The Gothic Period

2007-01-17T20:13:00.000-08:00

An Essay on Gothic Art

Varo Borja

In this essay I will attempt to not only relate to the reader the plan used by Abbot Suger in

relation to St. Denis, but I will also tell how this plan relates to the rest of Gothic architecture

and give a small amount of background on Abbot Suger and the time period in which he lived.

Abbot Suger, the man most responsible for the Gothic style as we know it, was born in 1081 AD in either Flanders, St. Denis, or near Beauce. According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, Abbot Suger entered the abbey at St. Denis in 1091 to become a member of the order that resided there. After spending time at St. Denis and some of the courts of the nobles of France, Suger went to Italy. To quote Wikipedia again “On his return from Italy, Suger became abbot of St Denis. Until 1127 he occupied himself at court mainly with the temporal affairs of the kingdom, while during the following decade he devoted himself to the reorganization and reform of St Denis. In 1137 he accompanied the future king, Louis VII, into Aquitaine on the occasion of that prince's marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, and during the second crusade served as one of the regents of the kingdom (1147 - 1149). He bitterly opposed the king's divorce, having himself advised the marriage. Although he disapproved of the second crusade, he himself, at the time of his death, had started preaching a new crusade.” Abbot Suger was a very influtential man, even something of a phenomenon. In the Middle Ages it was almost unheard of for the son of impoverished parents to reach the heights of political power and prestige that Abbot Suger attained. Abbot Suger was also a very learned man. He was a product of the monastic education system established by the Irish monks, who were renowned in much of Europe for the their high standards of scholarship and progressive methods of intstruction. To quote Wikipedia again, “Suger became the foremost historian of his time. He wrote a panegyric on Louis VI (Vita Ludovici regis), and collaborated in writing the perhaps more impartial history of Louis VII (Historia gloriosi regis Ludovici). In his Liber de rebus in administratione sua gestis, and its supplement Libellus de consecratione ecclesiae S. Dionysii, he treats of the improvements he had made to St Denis, describes the treasure of the church, and gives an account of the rebuilding. Suger's works served to imbue the monks of St Denis with a taste for history, and called forth a long series of quasi-official chronicles.”

To define the very spirit of Gothic achitecture, as exhibited by Abbot Suger’s work on St. Denis, is quite an imposing task. In my humble opinion, Gothic architecture embodies the very spirit of the mid to late middle ages, which is one of complete devotion to an unseen God and a persistent longing to bring that God’s kingdom to a world filled with war, disease, and ever lingering famine. Abbot Suger sought, through the texts of the ancients (particularly Dionysus the Areopagite) to bring man as close to God as is possible on earth, and to glorify that God’s earthly kingdom (as embodied in the kingdom of France, and then the rest of Christendom respectfully) with the elements that were at his (Suger’s) disposal. These elements were taken primarily from Romanesque architecture (the ribbed groin vault, the pointed arch, and the buttressed vault), but with a new luminosity that wasn’t possible before. This last element was provided through the use of stained glass. There was also a return to near-Classicism in this period in the field of sculpture. Huge strides were made towards achieving classical contrapposto and the truly organic aesthetic that had disappeared since the time of Imperial Rome.

Abbot Suger’s ideas were not new. He only expanded and for lack of a better word, “illuminated” the tried and true elements of the art and architecture of the past. His revolutionary style soon spread through all of Christendom, but it took different forms in each region of the Western world. In France, where the Gothic style originated, a couple of good examples of Suger’s influence can be seen at Chartres cathedral and the cathedral at Notre Dame. To quote the most excellent scholar, Henri Focillon from his Art of the West, Vol 2., “Lying on the fringes of Beauce, on the sharp descent down from the plateau, Chartres is both a town of the plains, ringed round with a wide horizon of cornfields, and a town of the uplands, where the roofs climb up steep slopes and along alleyways flanked by gables. To the east, the land on which the church stands is intersected by a fault, so that the apse dominates the void; westwards, the plateau falls gently away. The cathedral, like a fortress, overlooks and controls the town.” Chartres cathedral was built almost exclusively on the new pattern set by Suger at St. Denis. Chartres has the light, elegant feel of the Gothic style cathedral while retaining, like St. Denis, many of the elements found in Norman Romanesque and cathedrals such as Durham, in England. Chartres has a pair of assymetrical spires (also a new innovation of the Gothic period) at the west façade, and a richly decorated tympanum at the north portal. Again we see elements of the Romanesque period, but with a new freshness and a focus more on uplifting the worshipper instead of scaring the bejesus out of him. Another element found at Chartres that was begun during the Gothic period is the very ornate rose window found on the north façade. The interior of Chartres is lit by an amazing array of stained glass windows (180 in all) that are still intact to this day. Once again we see Abbot Suger’s hand at work in the luminescent effect of the jewelike window scheme.

At Notre Dame we see many of the same elements as at Chartres, again with much reliance on the old Norman Romanesque style and a hint of the German (in its squareness) flavor found at Speyer Cathdedral.. The double ambulatory of the choir continues directly into the aisles, and the shortened transept barely surpasses the width of the façade. The six-part nave vaults over squarish bays, although not identical with the “siamese twin” groin vaulting in Durham cathedral, continue the kind of structural experimentation that was begun by the Norman Romanesque. Much like St. Denis, the buttresses of Notre Dame cannot be seen from the inside, and the famous west façade contains a lovely rose window to, as according to Suger’s plan, illuminate the interior and enlighten the minds of the believers To quote M. Focillon once more, “The blind courses of inert stone are replaced by a skeletal armature which, within a net made up of radii, circles, and the arcades festooned around the circumference, entraps mulitcolored light. The wall has fallen, and revealed a wheel of fire.” (Art of the West, vol. 2 pgs. 42-43)

In England, at Salisbury cathedral we see a marked departure from Suger’s St. Denis in the exterior, which is low and sprawling much like an English bulldog. The layout of Salisbury is more Romanesque and Cistercian (a monastic order that was very austere and favored a more Spartan approach to the building of their churches) with a double transept and a square apse. Salisbury has a very large crossing tower (much larger than originally intended) found above the larger transept, that resembles the one found at Notre Dame. Upon entering the west portal the resemblance to Chartres is starkly evident in the large quantities of brightly lit stained glass to be found throughout the cathedral. Although differing largely from what Suger originally intended, Salisbury cathedral retains much of his original formula, just on a different framework.

Perhaps the biggest departure from Suger’s plan is to be found in Italy at Florence Cathedral. Here not much is left of the soaring majesty and ethereal grace of such cathedrals as Chartres and Notre Dame. Florence cathedral is based largely on the old Roman basilica plan, and like almost all Italian cathedrals, it features a campanile (bell tower) instead of a richly decorated and spire-laden westwork. The similarities are to be found in the details, though, such as the pointed arches and the stained glass of the campanile and the ribbed groin vault of the nave. Florence cathedral also contains a rounded apse at the eastern end, much like St. Denis and Notre Dame. Florence cathedral is definitely more sombre and archaic than St. Denis (Florence cathedral’s main feature is a huge octagonal dome, much like the Roman Pantheon), and it resembles an early Christian basilica more closely than the cathedrals of the Ile-de-France, but in the details of this relic of the past much of the Gothic spirit is to be found. One interesting aspect of Florence cathedral is that, in a way, it hearkened the end of the Gothic period and was the product of a new set of ideas and ideals fostered from much earlier time, but which would shine a new light on the world in the embodiment of the Italian Renaissance.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I much prefer the Gothic period over any that I have encountered, in regards to architecture. In cathedrals such as Chartres and Salisbury and even Florence, I find an absolutely exquisite beauty not to be found in our ultra-modern and plastic coated present world. Abbot Suger, through his study of the Dionysian mysteries, planted the seed for some of the most elegant buildings of all time, and we in the present age owe him an extreme debt of gratitude. Truly, these buildings were more than a mixture of glass, stone, and metal. They were imbued with the spirit of an age, and were certainly worthy resting places for the veneration of the unseen and inspiring hand of God.

Bibliography

Wikipedia: Found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbot_Suger

Focillon, Henri. The Art of the West (vol. 2). Phaidon Press Ltd.: London and New York, 1963.

Touch

2007-01-17T18:49:00.001-08:00

Touch
By
Varo Borja

I touch you
Broken you
Your essence
Marred magnificent
A child’s embrace
Soft downy cheeks
Baby
Touch me
Broken me
Shameful me
Falling, twisting
Turning pale oblique
The glass darkens
We see each other
In liquid
The womb
The grave
The ontology of you
The absolute
Suffer me to dream
And in the process
I will rise
I will cry
War
Touch them
The kiss of steel
Hard razor ripping revolution
Bloodshed bombastic fury
Fire, sword, famine
Death knows innumerable names
I will submit
I will supplicate
For the end
This time
Touch you
Feel you
Hold you closer than my own skin
Make a new life
Replenish the earth
Start again
Leave this town
Touch the limit
Touch the sun
Touch the hand of God
Tell Him that we hurt
Tell Him that we still need
A savior
Touch me and tell me
Everything
That I ever wanted to know
And all that is
Is that we’re going to be okay.

The Pharisees (An Essay)

2006-12-06T23:31:00.000-08:00

The Pharisees

by

Varo Borja

In this essay I will attempt, in as brief a manner as possible, to define what a Pharisee was, how they came about, and the impact, or legacy they left from the time of Christ until today.

The word “Pharisee” comes from the Hebrew word, Chasidim or “pious ones”. The Pharisees, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, came into being somewhere in the middle of the 3^rd century B.C., or right around the time of the Maccabean revolt against Antiochus Epihphanes. Being born in revolt, the Pharisees were no strangers to a type of militaristic doctrine. The Pharisees, as apart from the chief priests, were stringent upholders of the law, written or oral. Many of their “laws” were codified in the Book of Jubilees; an apocryphal book of the Hebrew Bible. During the Seleucid implementation of the pagan rites in the sacred Temple in Jerusalem, the Pharisees were some of the most outspoken opponents to this policy. Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid monarch, had tried to implement a violent process of Hellenization in the region of Judaea. He was supported by the Sadducees (the temple cult that welcomed everything Hellenistic, including philosophy and the building of gymnasia), but resisted bitterly by the Pharisees. Some Pharisees even suffered martyrdom for their convictions. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, some Pharisees were so devout that they let themselves be slaughtered on the Sabbath rather than lift a finger to defend themselves (any type of physical activity was expressly forbidden on the Sabbath).

Christ’s dealings with the Pharisees in the early 1^st century A.D. angered this sect to no end and was one of the direct causes of His death. In a quote from the Gospel of Matthew, Christ said "The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten in the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say and do not. For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them. And all their works they do for to be seen of men. For they make their phylacteries broad, and enlarge their fringes. And they love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues. And salutations in the market place, and to be called by men, Rabbi" (Matt., xxiii, 1-8). Christ made several more scathing rebukes of the Pharisees (as well as the scribes and the Sadducees), calling them a nest of vipers and warning the multitude to “Beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees”. Extremely conservative as a rule, and haughty in their knowledge of the scriptures and their own “righteousness”, the Pharisees were confounded and deeply embarrassed by the Son of Jesse who called himself the Messiah, and the “Son of David”. Claims like these were reserved for what the Pharisees considered to be the savior of Israel from the Romans. The Pharisees, in their evolutionary process, had become deeply nationalistic and involved intrinsically in the politics of Palestine (Judaea), and sought a temporal solution to the woes of the Jewish nation. They firmly expected the wrath of God to deliver them from the Roman legions and restore the rule of their land to those most worthy to rule it: themselves. However, as opposed to the Zealots (a sect bent on armed rebellion against Rome; Simon Zealotas the disciple of Christ was one of these), the Pharisees had no taste for armed revolt. They much preferred for the hand of God to do it for them. Perhaps this is one reason why Jesus made statements like the quote above, and didn’t add, “beware of the leaven of the Zealots also”.

After the death of Jesus a new trend in the religio-political situation in Palestine came into being, with the Pharisees at the forefront. To quote the Catholic Encyclopedia, “After the conflicts with Rome (A.D. 66-135) Pharisaism became practically synonymous with Judaism. The great Machabean wars had defined Pharisaism: another even more terrible conflict gave it a final ascendancy. The result of both wars was to create from the second century onward, in the bosom of a tenacious race, the type of Judaism known to the western world.” Where the Sadducees had failed, the Pharisees succeeded. The Sadducees had been a totally exclusive class (or caste) of priests, with limited numbers and high (material) standards of entry. The Pharisees had always held the respect of the people for their seeming purity and unquestionable devotion to the law and the prophets, and welcomed any adherents to their doctrine. Also, the Pharisees had been inherently nationalistic in their ideals, and this appealed to the majority of the non-Christian, non-pagan population of Palestine. The Pharisees had always placed the spiritual before the material (in theory), and their belief in a resurrection and the eternal nature of the soul (as contrasted with the Sadducees who believed in neither) appealed strongly to a people who saw themselves in present bondage and gave them something to look forward to in the afterlife.

In conclusion, it would be important to note that some of the most prominent men in the New Testament were Pharisees. Nicodemus (John 3:1), Gamaliel (Acts 5:34), and Paul (Acts 26:5, Phil. 3:5) all were Pharisees, and not in least ashamed of it. Paul stated, according to the Zondervan Bible Pictorial Dictionary, “I am, in the matter of the Law, ‘a Pharisee’ (Phil. 3:5), he did not think of himself as a hypocrite but claims the highest degree of faithfulness to the Law. In similar manner, church leaders might say, ‘We are Pharisees’”. To quote this source again, “Much of modern scholarship, however, has cast the Pharisees in too favorable a light; when one reads our Lord’s heated denunciation of Pharisaism in Matthew, chapter 23, where He specifically lists their sins, one has not only a true but a dark picture of Pharisaism as it was at the time of Christ” (Zondervan Bible Pictorial Dictionary pg. 648). This statement, when compared with the present state of affairs in the modern nation of Israel, is all too true. Almost daily Palestinian men, women, and children are blown to bits or machine gunned down in the name of Jewish nationalism. The seeds for this type of conflict are very old, and the ancient sect of the Pharisees is very near the taproot.

Bibliography

The Zondervan Bible Pictorial Dictionary. Merril C. Tenney, Editor in Chief. Grand Rapids Michigan, 1963.

The Catholic Encyclopedia. Found at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11789b.htm.

The New Oxford Annotated Bible (Revised Version. Edited by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger. New York, Oxford University Press, 1971.

Brainyquotes.com. Found at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/ariel_sharon.html

The Fool

2006-11-29T01:17:00.000-08:00

I am a moderate. Most of the time. When the Right gives a tax cut to the progeny of the Wal Mart dynasty, I cringe. When the left makes it un pc for me to say the word God in my own church, I want to vomit. What is going on? Is it really the end of days? Are the Republicans and the Democrats two heads of the same dragon? Is the media really liberal, or is it just a vehicle for more sales, more fear, and more control? Where is the middle ground? Where is the sanity? Where is my grandfather who got a bayonet in the stomach during WW2 and retired making 5 dollars and fifty cents an hour and all the time smiling like the cheshire cat? Why can't a public school teacher get elected president? I pray for serenity and I'm still white bread house nigger scum in the grand spectacle of the race to get more, more, more for your dollar and scrape enough change together to put Phillip Morris's great grandchildren through cotillion with my brown lung butter and the cancerous sores forming at the corners of my frowning face. I watched C span last night sheerly for the sedating effect of the pedant discoursing on the intelligence community that he's envious of for not putting enough text about subversive elements in Guatemala on the internet and who the fuck really cares anyway? I tell you who cares. The thousands of soldiers hunkered down in Babylon bleeding for us and dying for us and procuring another pint of oil and prestige for the bloated elephantitis head of state that doesn't give two shits about even serving a day in the service of his country in a war zone that has long segued into peace because we decided to leave well enough the hell alone. Peace? Upside down broken cross standing for sodomy, sloth, and the egoistic crusade of a generation of failed marriages, spiritual bankruptcy and the trouncing of every piece of character that this nation retained at one time. Fuck Bill Clinton. Fuck W. Fuck the whole lot of self serving, self interested glory hounds hot on the trail of stock tips and trips to the Caymans where they hide what really matters to the majority. Money. Cash rules everything around me and never forget it, cause if you do you're liable. Lawyers and the reek of ambulance exhaust. Can you tell I'm a gen Xer? Can you tell I don't have a lot of faith in the future? Will my generation really be able to turn the red tide of fate or will we make the same mistakes as our parents? Gimme the Star Spangled Banner anyday over Lil John and Tommy Lee and the rest of the no talent sequels to American Idol prepackaged for the consumption of obese welfare mothers and chronic masturbatory teens bringing up the rear and ready to procreate with the devil for fifteen minutes on the boob tube. My father, My father, why hast thou forsaken us?

--VB