City Of Strangers is the title of Don Hollinger's novel that he wrote.
In one of my favorite episodes from one of my favorite TV shows, That Girl, Don has become discouraged by rejections from publishers and Ann's father tries to help get a publisher interested.
There's a publisher whom he actually knows, because the guy eats in Mr. Marie's restaurant on a regular basis.
An episode of "That Girl" from Season 2 - Ann comes into Donald's office to meet him for lunch, and he says he's kind of depressed because his novel has been rejected again -
"I and my 'great American novel' have just got another rejection. [He reads from a letter] - 'We regret to inform you it does not meet our present requirements for publication.'"
Ann: "That's not bad!"
Don: "What-do you mean?"'
Ann: [in an insinuating tone] - "They're - hedging!"
In both state-level and national debate of issues, the reason they say, "my friend" - "my friend so-and-so"; "my friend from the Washington Post" - is to maintain civility and cordiality, even when -
making different points
taking different positions
... Disagreeing.
In England, in Parliament, they refer to the party that is in the minority currently (whether it is the Tories or Labour - or - others...[I think they have some more parties, which, maybe, we should, too...]) as "the loyal opposition."
That's to remind everyone that if someone disagrees with you, that doesn't mean they are disloyal to the country. They are the loyal opposition.
...To keep people from becoming too divided and getting too mad at each other.
It works.
Part of the time.
In England, and in Washington, D.C., and in state governments.
Once when I was watching the process in our state capitol, a Democrat state senator and a Republican state senator were arguing different points on the Floor, and the one finally asked the other one, "Do you want to step outside?"
They did not "go outside" and / or physically harm each other, so it worked out OK.
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Also, referencing yesterday's post here - Just what, exactly, is a "bow-tie liberal"? When that remark was made, by my favorite rancher, sometime in the late nineties during our state's legislative session, I felt like I knew what it meant, but not really. ...
Checking with Google:
------------------- The term "bow tie liberal" refers to a style of political alignment that combines liberal social views with more traditional, even conservative, aesthetic preferences often reflected in clothing choices.
It's not a formal political classification but rather a descriptive label for individuals who might embrace progressive politics while also favoring a more formal, even old-fashioned, personal style, frequently including the wearing of a bow tie.
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Listening to the Nixon dialogue with reporters from 1973 mentioned here yesterday, I felt like I "knew" Pres. Nixon a little bit.
It was interesting.
Thinking about Pres. Nixon and President Trump and their problems -
Watergate for Nixon, and
Epstein files for Trump,
and listening to what Nixon said then,
and Trump is saying now --
I reflected on the observation that Richard Nixon had some intellectual heft, something that Donald Trump does not have.
(1961 - 1963)
(1963 - 1968)
(1969 - 1974)
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On You Tube is the film of the speech Pres. Nixon gave wherein he said, "I am not a crook."
Richard Nixon Associated Press Q and A Session 1973
uploader / channel: Buyout Footage Hi...
During the question-and-answer session, a reporter from the Washington Post asked a question, and Nixon answered, saying, "my friend from the Washington Post"...
In the '90s when I worked as a lobbyist for a statewide organization of schools, when state legislators debated, they referred to each other as "friends" when they disagreed about something.
That's what Nixon was doing when he said, "my friend from the Washington Post" because the Washington Post, then, was publishing articles on a regular basis saying what he was doing wrong.
Which he was.
--------------------------- In my state, in the 1990s, a Republican rancher would refer to a Republican school principle, in the legislature, as - "my friend, Ed Olson"...
...He would also refer to a Republican lawyer who was elected to the legislature as, "a bow-tie liberal"....
Trump supporters are angry that this president is urging them to "move on" - "let it go" - "are we still talking about this?" - "wait, wait! - look over here!!" about the Jeffrey Epstein files.
It seems Trump promised he would get to the bottom of the Epstein secrets, and his voters appreciated that, and now he's saying, "OK, move along...nothing to see here..."
Someone commented on the Internet, saying:
"This is going to be Trump's 'I'm not a crook' moment."
What they meant by that is, in November of 1973, then-President Nixon gave a speech on TV wherein he said, "I'm not a crook!"
You can hear that part of it on You Tube.
Video titled,
Richard Nixon - "I'm not a crook"
uploader / channel: Max Power
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There's a "Short" video on You Tube titled
Baby elephant who doesn't know how to use his trunk
viewer comments:
~ Love elephants. Pray they never go extinct
~ Adorable baby elephants on their way to becoming magnificent majestic beings.
~ Cuteness overload!
~ Baby ellies = PURE JOY!!!
~ I so love elephants and gorillas. They are majestic
~ ...I love you ellies.
~ Helicopter, helicopter!!
~ I love elephants
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It's interesting to me that people on the Internet have invented a new word: ellies, for elephants.
I don't know if the word "ellie" is in the dictionary yet.
But whether it is in the dictionary or not, new words and new forms of words come into use because people say them; language evolves.
I remember in the 1970s it was in the News that in the new dictionary there was going to be the word (or the expression)
"Archie Bunker-ism"
If someone made a certain kind of remark, it could be identified as an
Archie Bunker-ism.
There's an episode of "That Girl" where the main character, Ann Marie (played by Marlo Thomas, daughter of Danny Thomas, sitcom star and comedian of the 1950s and '60s) - gets an acting job where she is hit in the face with a pie.
Why? - you might ask...
Getting hit in the face with a pie (that someone threw) used to be a "thing" in show business.
It was funny.
Or something.
It occurs to me that such an activity might be painful or dangerous, in some way.
I don't think people are doing it, now.
I don't know. ...
What is considered humorous evolves through the years.
(I mean, think about it - clowns used to be considered funny.
Now, people think they're scary.)
Anyway, the plot of the "That Girl" episode shows Ann getting the acting-job offer and she goes back and forth about whether she should do it or not, because it might be "degrading" to be hit in the face with a pie.
But she decides to do it because she needs the money, and it's an acting part and she's always looking for those, and also it's a show business tradition to "take" a pie in the face.
The day after the show was on TV, Ann is feeling bad about having done it. She regrets it. And her protective (perhaps over-protective) father shows up at her apartment in New York City, wearing a pair of sunglasses so no one will recognize him, because he's embarrassed about her doing the bit with the pie.
He declares to her, loudly, "I've never worn a pair of smoked glasses in my life!"
("Smoked glasses"? Who calls them that? lol)
It's a fun, and funny, episode.
It's on You Tube.
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I was thinking, also, lately, about how we view our political candidates in America.
A lot of people seem to have the same view that I had when I was six years old: the candidate my parents are voting for is GOOD, and the "other" candidate is "BAD."
(Goldwater???!!! -
LOL...)
That's what is called binary thinking.
In reality, political candidates, like many other things in life, are on a continuum.
For example: In 1960, some of the people who had voted for Dwight Eisenhower in the '50s might have looked at Jack Kennedy and said, "Well, I don't know...he might be a little too - liberal."
While other voters might have said - "Kennedy. Yes, he is the one I'm going to vote for. Now, that Adlai Stevenson - he's too liberal."
Whereas people like my parents, at the time, were thinking, "Yes, Kennedy's interesting, but he isn't liberal enough. We are going to vote for Adlai Stevenson."
It isn't "good, or bad."
It isn't "black or white."
It's on a continuum.
It's our responsibility to learn to understand that.
We must see the continuum, and understand nuance.
-------------------------- [excerpt from Kennedy And King by Steven Levingston] -------------------- In a conversation with Doris Kearns Goodwin years later, Jackie [Kennedy] said, of her tennis playing, "It was enough to enjoy the sport. It wasn't necessary for me to be the best."
While the others were off frantically competing with each other on the lawn or the courts, Jackie sat on the porch chatting with Joseph Kennedy [President Kennedy's father]; she nurtured a close relationship with him that was built on love and honesty.
"I used to tell him he had no nuances," Jackie recalled,..."that everything with him was either black or white, while life was so much more complicated than that.
But he never got angry with me for talking straight to him; on the contrary, he seemed to enjoy it."
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On most 4th-of-Julys, I think of this song - on You Tube, video titled:
This Land is Your Land
uploader / channel: Pete Seeger - Topic
...play it and enjoy! : )
... As I went walking,
That ribbon of highway,
I saw above me
That endless sky-way
I saw below me
That golden valley
This Land was made for you and me
This Land is your land
This Land is my land
From California
To the New York islands
From the redwood forests,
To the Gulf stream waters,
This Land was made for you and me.
I roamed and rambled
And I followed my footsteps,
To the sparkling sands of -
Her diamond deserts,
While all around me,
A voice was sounding -
This Land was made for you and me.
This Land is your land,
This Land is my land,
From California
To the New York islands
From the redwood forests,
To the Gulf stream waters,
This Land was made for you and me.
As the sun came shining,
And I was strolling -
And the wheat-fields waving,
And the dust-clouds rolling
And the fog was lifting,
And a voice was chanting,
This Land was made for you and me
This Land is your land
This Land is my land
From California
To the New York islands.
From the redwood forests,
To the Gulf stream waters,
This Land was made for you and me.
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