THE SIGNAL from David Katznelson
“Don't tell me the moon is shining, show me the glint of light on broken glass.” ― Bernard Cornwall
I don’t post many New York Review Of Books articles on this newsletter because they have a firewall that prevents non-subscribers from reading more than a few paragraphs of a piece. At home, the NYRB is my go-to rag for incredible journalism…just the best place to find deep discussions and thoughts on anything under the sun. Over the last few years, when more often than not The Atlantic or Harpers or the like would feature so many stories fertilized by the Trump reality…and to be honest, I got really burnt out on them…you could open the New York Review of Books and be totally drawn in by a long piece about Rembrandt or the Harlem Renaissance or my favorite: about an unknown author or poet from an not-recently-thought-about period of far-off time who was brilliant and led a crazy life (and yes, more often than not, after reading about them I would go to bookfinder and find myself a copy of their works).
Last weekend I read an article that really stuck with me. It is about one of the early Proto-American colonists, Thomas Morton, who to me seemed the real representation of a person who was escaping a church-dominated England for a freer better lifestyle. Morton arrived in what would become America and proceeded to found a village, which he called Merrymount (now Quincy, Mass), erected a tall Maypole in the town square and created a society that was based not around religion and religious dictums but instead around freedom of expression and joy. Morton loved the Native American people and traditions he found in this new land—invited them to partake in the regular celebrations Merrymount would host— and abhorred their treatment by the Puritans.
As can be imagined, he was a threat to all that the Puritans stood for. There is a great quote in Wikipedia from Puritan Governor William Bradford about Morton and his fellow Merrymounters: "They ... set up a May-pole, drinking and dancing about it many days together, inviting the Indian women for their consorts, dancing and frisking together (like so many fairies, or furies rather) and worse practices. As if they had anew revived & celebrated the feasts of ye Roman Goddess Flora, or ye beastly practices of ye mad Bacchanalians." Bradford, among others, had Morton arrested and deported back to England. The new biography points out that when the Puritanical leaders went to arrest him, Morton put up no resistance because they came during one of his parties and he was too drunk to do anything but be taken.
There is more to his life that is totally worth diving into, but what really stuck with me about his story was that it was the first one I had read where there was actually a member of the first wave of European settlers whose vision for the new world was actually….just maybe…a good one (there are uncertainties about his legacy that are just too unknowable to allow a certain Truth to be established). What we know is that during a time of Native American massacres and crazy witch-hunts there was a person who led a group of people towards a better, freer ideal. And what that really led me to remember is that in this world of cancel culture, the argument that we need to forgive people for their heinous activities because of the time they lived in really does not hold water because there were also people in those same times who were woken enough to understand the shit that was going on around them and demand something better. I know this is not a new thought in any way…but this was the first time I had read about it around the earliest eras of our soon-to-be country…and it thought of Thomas Morton brought a smile to my face.
R.L. Burnside :: Brotherhood Sportsmen’s Lodge, Como, Mississippi, September 28, 1974
This early video of R. L. Burnside was taken by the great Tav Falco (and his crew member Randall who can be seen dancing throughout). It has been making its way around social media over the past few weeks and is very much worth a watch. As my friend Luther Dickinson pointed out—it is incredible to watch RL at this party, playing his guitar through an amp but singing…belting…totally unamplified into the crowd. And you can hear him so clearly with such a force.
Artist George McCalman on Black History, Creative Blocks, and the Luxury of Hope
My friend Shoshana Berger wrote this piece and in her words: “Here’s my interview with one of my favorite writers and designers, George McCalman. George fuses work and life in a way that energizes rather than depletes, shares how to avoid creative blocks, and explains why hope is a luxury.”
Sister Wendy's Story of Painting::Revolution
It is Sister Wendy Beckett’s birthday today and anyone who was watching public television in the 90s knows exactly who she is. A self-characterized hermit, the Sister would lead us on wondrous travels and contemplations through the history of art. This link leads you to a great episode. A great quote from Sister Wendy: “We know great art by its effect on us. If we are prepared to look without preconceptions, without defenses, without haste, then art will change us. There is no life without work, anxieties or tensions. Peace is not found in avoiding these but in understanding them and controlling their force.”
Daniel Beltrá's Devastating Photographs of Amazon Deforestation
Beltra’s photographs are as disturbing as they are beautiful. And they tell such a story that needs to be heard…a story that needs to keep driving us towards action.
Listening in Tongues
by Josh Hurand
Eucalyptus
you wave in a confused wind
speaking in tongues
confident fluctuations
curated for a heart that disappears
in your lulling hover
thirsty as a bee dazed
in an August desert
I bow to you
plea to your bending branches
delicate dancing snakes
the earth firming in your shadow
