Fascists: The Source of My Irritation
After talking with Mr. Golly a few minutes ago, I realized one of the reasons why today's news irritated me even more than usual, and why I should have spent the commute listening to Bob and Tom.
He gave me a book to read. It's called The Education of Little Tree. It's a great book. It's an autobiography of a Cherokee boy who was raised from the age of 5 by his Cherokee grandparents. His grandparents were among the few Cherokee who managed to stay in the Appalachians. The time period is around 1930.
Though it appears to be a "My grandpa taught me how to fish" sort of story, and that is a lot of it, it also has currents of the prejudice, poverty, corruption, and injustice of the time. Of all times, unfortunately. The chapter I read before going to bed last night was a recollection of a piece of the grandpa's childhood. He hid in the woods and watched a down-and-out Confederate family (in 1867) get help from two Union soldiers in planting their little valley in corn and apple trees. The grandfather would help the family by catching fish and leaving them in trees on the edge of the yard. In other words, it was a story of people from all "sides" coming together, helping one another. Everything was going well until apparent ancestors of George W. and Cheney--the Regulators--came to the farm, killed the men, and uprooted the apple trees. They weren't profitable, don't you know. But the land was. Soon, a rich guy owned the land and sharecroppers did all the work.
Then I got up, turned on NPR, and heard the story all over again.
Woody Guthrie said "You fascists, you're bound to lose." Mr. we could use a man like Woody Guthrie again.
He gave me a book to read. It's called The Education of Little Tree. It's a great book. It's an autobiography of a Cherokee boy who was raised from the age of 5 by his Cherokee grandparents. His grandparents were among the few Cherokee who managed to stay in the Appalachians. The time period is around 1930.
Though it appears to be a "My grandpa taught me how to fish" sort of story, and that is a lot of it, it also has currents of the prejudice, poverty, corruption, and injustice of the time. Of all times, unfortunately. The chapter I read before going to bed last night was a recollection of a piece of the grandpa's childhood. He hid in the woods and watched a down-and-out Confederate family (in 1867) get help from two Union soldiers in planting their little valley in corn and apple trees. The grandfather would help the family by catching fish and leaving them in trees on the edge of the yard. In other words, it was a story of people from all "sides" coming together, helping one another. Everything was going well until apparent ancestors of George W. and Cheney--the Regulators--came to the farm, killed the men, and uprooted the apple trees. They weren't profitable, don't you know. But the land was. Soon, a rich guy owned the land and sharecroppers did all the work.
Then I got up, turned on NPR, and heard the story all over again.
Woody Guthrie said "You fascists, you're bound to lose." Mr. we could use a man like Woody Guthrie again.
posted by lulu | 7:03 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home