Proxmire Proxmire

Senator Proxmire died this month. Rebel Democrat, political maverick, crusader of fairness, I only just learned about this titan of goodness today. William Proxmire was one of the truly noble men of Congress. He actually refused campaign contributions! In fact, for the '76 and '82 campaigns he spent more than half of his total campaign funds on the stamps for the envelopes containing the RETURNED CHECKS! He proved -- way back then -- you don't need the war chest. It can be done! You can serve and promote your services through your deeds. I can't help thinking it could be done today even. Dean got something started with his [sorta] grassroots website thing, but he was totally taking contributions. They say it has to be done, but PROXMIRE proved 'em wrong 30 years ago ... Prox also jogged to work. How bout that? He was a known sight in DC for years, my grandfather being one of the many who used to shout, "Good morning Senator!" while driving by. After his Senator days, he had an office at the James Madison Memorial Building where he worked daily on his book projects. But this was after a long warrior-for-the-greater-good career in Washington, even speaking against LBJ as a Freshman Senator! That takes a pair of rocks. He spoke out as the conscience of the Senate, and his ilk is surely missed in this town. Lots and lots more on the man here and here. I'll give Ralph Nader the last eloquent word.

Nabokov's Teaching Days

From his Playboy interview in 1964:

I loved teaching, I loved Cornell, I loved composing and delivering my lectures on Russian writers and European great books. But around 60, and especially in winter, one begins to find hard the physical process of teaching, the getting up at a fixed hour every other morning, the struggle with the snow in the driveway, the march through long corridors to the classroom, the effort of drawing on the blackboard a map of James Joyce's Dublin or the arrangement of the semi-sleeping car of the St. Petersburg-Moscow express in the early 1870s-- without an understanding of which neither Ulysses nor Anna Karenin, respectively, makes sense. For some reason my most vivid memories concern examinations. Big amphitheater in Goldwin Smith. Exam from 8 a.m. to 10:30. About 150 students-- unwashed, unshaven young males and reasonably well-groomed young females. A general sense of tedium and disaster. Half-past eight. Little coughs, the clearing of nervous throats, coming in clusters of sound, rustling of pages. Some of the martyrs plunged in meditation, their arms locked behind their heads. I meet a dull gaze directed at me, seeing in me w^ith hope and hate the source of forbidden knowledge. Girl in glasses comes up to my desk to ask: "Professor Kafka, do you want us to say that . . . ? Or do you want us to answer only the first part of the question?" The great fraternity of C-minus, backbone of the nation, steadily scribbling on. A rustle arising simultaneously, the majority turning a page in their bluebooks, good teamwork. The shaking of a cramped wrist, the failing ink, the deodorant that breaks down. When I catch eyes directed at me, they are forthwith raised to the ceiling in pious meditation. Windowpanes getting misty. Boys peeling off sweaters. Girls chewing gum in rapid cadence. Ten minutes, five, three, time's up.

Vladimir Nabokov taught at Cornell from 1948 to 1959.

CSL/JFK * Alice/Jimi * Harold/Hamlet

Today I learned C.S. Lewis died the same day as Jack Kennedy: November 22, 1963. Talk about getting pushed off the front page!

Hey, I also learned Alice Cooper's real name is Vincent Damon Furnier. He was born in Detroit, grew up in Phoenix, and rocked his early years in California with FZ and some of them other freaks. That first album, Pretties For You is an underrated, adventurous, and surprisingly listenable & lovable LP.

Today I also learned about Jimi's 2nd guitar: a white Danelectro Silvertone with matching amp, bought for him by his bandmates in The Rocking Kings in 1959. Yep, a Sears, Roebuck deal for $49.95. He painted "Betty Jean" on it, after one of his high school girl friends, Betty Jean Morgan. Nice of the boys to chip in after Jimi's first, the Supro Ozark was lifted.

Something I heard Harold Bloom say today about Hamlet: "He is moody. He is abrupt. He is very violent. He is surpassingly intelligent, and he is, in the end, a very dangerous, fascinating kind of person." Professor Bloom was talking the heavy talk today. Check it HERE. A must listen.

Kong television and KKK high school

Today I learned about formerly independent WOR-TV in New York and how they used to run classics as part of their Million Dollar Movie thing. Sometimes they would just repeat greats like King Kong or Moby Dick. Back to back to back, all day, all week even. Sometimes they'd show Son of Kong right after original Kong, and many today believe they are one big film as Son picks up exactly where Kong ends. Lordy, that's tv: just run them greats, right on.

In the land of NOT right on, I learned there exists today a school named after Ku Klux Klan founder and Confederate horseman, Nathan Bedford Forrest. I am still stunned. Nathan Bedford Forrest High School in Jacksonville, Florida. How can this be? How in the world has this been allowed to continue? Do they have murals of him in their halls? Is their mascot the Fighting Knights? Good grief. Ok, so they're the Rebels - it still has no place in a living school. I had looked into it, just wondering if there were any such honorings, like from 50 years ago! Had no idea no one's had the moral balls to change its name. Unbelievable but true. Good ol' Florida.