Everything Old is New Again (Mostly)

Strangely, this political satire from the 2012 Presidential election
cycle is still relevant... so much for new ideas.

The 1980 United States presidential election was the first political clash of which I was even moderately aware. Through the filter of my eleven year-old mind, the contest for the job of guiding the free world could be distilled down to a competition between "the odd guy with the southern accent" (I lived in Western New York) versus "the actor guy with the one liners." Now, 36 years later. not much really seems to have changed. Given the even smaller time-frame between this current presidential election cycle and the previous one, it is probably not surprising then that many of the characters flooding the airwaves look very similar to those who shone brightly just four years ago.

This past weekend, while going through one of the pile of books stacked around my home, I came across a paper doll collection given to me by a former student. If I recall correctly, I had been given it after he returned from Washington, DC, where he had attended one of the Presidential Ball's following the re-election of Barack Obama in 2012. Flipping though the pages, it became clear that little changes in our political landscape, as many of the players have remained the same. The aptly titled 2012 Political Inaction Figures by Tim Foley remains oddly prescient in its commentary. Both of the current party front-runners were present (with he Donald warranting a YUGE spot on the back cover), and a number of the forgotten "insurgents" of yesteryear such as Herman Caine(?) are there too, soon to be joined by the current roster of never-to-be-heard-from-agains.

Who'd a thunk the back cover might predict the Republic
Party's candidate for 2016?

Maybe you've heard of this brash new political star?

Tim Foley's contribution to the Marco Rubio playbook.

The "dynamic" campaign of Herman Cain lives on as a
flat paper doll.

Don't look for him on Meet the Press... David Gregory, too,
appears to be sitting this cycle out.

Governor Huckabee's campaigns get shorter every four
years... see you in 2020!

Extraterrestrial Encounters of the Literary Kind

I miss good used book stores. Not the shops that tear half of the covers off or only carry titles  that no one ever purchased in the first place (after all we still have the Dollar Store for those), but stores that sold previously read (and loved) books that were unusual or long out of print. I recently came across some books that had been purchased at a long closed used book store in my neighborhood, the Brown Bag Bookshop. They would carry all genres of unique and hard-to-find titles, some that were of great (intellectual) value. Among those books was one that may may prove very valuable in the alien-invasion-end-days-to-come, Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature.

Illustrated by Wayne Douglas Barlow ("the John James Audubon of otherworld creatures," or so the inside cover announces) and written by Ian Summers and Beth Meacham, Barlowe's Guide a comprehensive text and image of fifty alien creatures and worlds from science fiction literature. Drawing from the witting of prominent sci-fi authors such as Alan Dean Foster  and Ursula  K. LeGuin, the trio have crafted a beautiful collection of detailed illustrations and biographical info for a variety of literary alien species. With all the information one would find in a traditional field guide, including a gate-fold "Comparative Size Chart," this collection is a fantastic resource for fans of sci-fi literature as the drawings are based on the source documents from which they spring.

Sadly, this copy had been on my shelf during the time I actually read (or re-read) a number of the novels referenced within, and in some cases the visual would have helped by early comprehension. In other cases, the artist's visual interpretation based on his reading of the boo or story varied from my own, but it was interesting to consider just why that may have been. Looking back, there is a pretty huge spoiler for one of the novel's on the cover which I am glad not to have seen before reaching that point in my reading.With so many class pieces of science-fiction literature represented, and iconic creatures, it was a challenge to choose only of a select few favorites to share here.

Barlowe's Guide, page 68.

Barlowe's Guide, page 70.

Barlowe's Guide, page 98.

Published in 1979 by Workman Publishing, the copy I bought was only $8 in beautiful condition only six or seven years ago. A quick search online reveals that there are quite a few copies of this classic book available at the usual places, for not very much money at all, and many of the images can now be seen on the Interwebs, and a more detailed listing of the species included (along with source documents) within are viewable at it's Wikipedia entry.

Summer Reading: Two from Tolkien

Illustration from Smith of Wootton Major by Pauline Diana Baynes.

Full disclosure: I am by no means a Tolkien scholar, nor have I read much of his fictional work beyond The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogy. I do, however, have a great appreciation for those novels (and his literary analysis), as well as their cultural and literary impact. I have also recently enjoyed sharing The Hobbit with classes I teach. While on my recent trip to California, my high school friend and I visited a number of small,independent books stores and it was at one that I came across a slender volume containing two of Tolkien's long shorts stories or short novels (novellas), depending on how you look at these things.

Cover by the
Brothers Hildebrandt.

This particular edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham was published by Ballantine Books in 1988, and features beautifully delicate illustrations by Pauline Diana Baynes.  I was also glad to note that this edition has a fantastic cover by The Brothers Hildebrandt, perhaps most well-known by modern fans from their recognizable Smaug-on-mountains-of-gold illustration (a poster of which has hung in our classroom during the study of The Hobbit). The two stories are organized out of chronological order of their publication, and other than both being set in fantastic, medieval settings, Smith (1967) and Farmer Giles (1949) seem to have little in common either thematically or in terms of sharing characters.

Of the two, Farmer Giles of Ham is by far the most accessible. Whereas Smith of Wootton Major's narrative introduces a number of characters, and progresses in such a way that it seems intended to serve as an allegory (despite my online reading revealed that Tolkien insisted that it not be read as such), Farmer Giles is much more straight forward. Smith is a difficult story to properly summarize in a line or two, so I won't make the attempt According to Wikipedia, it began as an attempt on Tolkien's part to explain the meaning  of "Faery," both a central location and idea in this tale of cooks and a magic cake as seen in the image at the top of the post.While I suspect both were written for an audience similar to The Hobbit; for my tastes, Smith meanders too much from idea to idea to be read purely as an enjoyment, though I'm confident there is something here that I may not be clever enough to appreciate.

Illustration by
Pauline Diana Baynes.

While disguised as a fairly traditional heroic narrative, Farmer Giles of Ham is anything but, and it is this juxtaposition of expectations on the part of the reader, that, along with Tolkien's conversational storytelling style, make the tale particularly engaging. Due perhaps in part to the story's subject, Farmer Giles style and language is much more reminiscent of Tolkien's Hobbit than the Rings trilogy.

With the unlikely Giles as its balding, overweight, de facto protagonist, Tolkien uses a number of common fantasy archetypes such as the giant who doesn't realize his own defeat, a cunning dragon, Chrysophylax, who (unlike Smaug) uses his cunning in an effort to survive, and a deus ex machina, the magical sword Caudimordax or, in the vulgar tongue, "Tailbiter." Throughout, the Tolkien's narrator reinforces a strong cultural setting by including descriptions in the formal tongue of the time and the more common, or vulgar, language of regular folk.

Stopping by Barnes and Noble today, I noticed that this double-shot of Tolkien is still available for purchase, though with a slightly less-cool cover. For those who, like I , haven't previously read beyond Tolkien's more popular works, Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham seems to me a great way to gain access to his other fictional writings.

Our new kitten Black Beard warms up the novel for me.

Shiva Loose in the Garden

Believe it or not, I had already prepped this bed once already this past May! (6/23/13)

When it comes to working in our small urban garden, I take on the role of destroyer. I break things down and make them ready, while my wife selects, plants and nurtures. In the garden each summer, I embrace my inner Shiva and happily make ready the bed by weeding, digging, turning-over and blending the soil. I happily take upon myself the task of waking early (before the heat and humidity set in), and get to digging in the dirt.


 

Shiva by Sanjay Patel.

The suggestion that Shiva-energy is at play seems appropriate (at least in a modern, Western sort-of-way) as it gives a positive and situationally appropriate connotation to the "destruction" necessary for successful gardening. As I understand it, Shiva does not destroy out of evil intent or as a means of ending the existence of something, but rather to reassert the truth that "all that has a beginning by necessity must have an end" and from that end a new beginning.

Making the ground ready is my role and the planting of the vegetables is my wife's. Tilling the earth, mixing in fresh compost consisting of wet waste from our kitchen--these things bring me a sense of accomplishment. This is not to suggest that I do not also enjoy assisting in planting, and on many occasions watering the plants in the early morning and late evening, my skills set is more in tune with the act of dismantling.

Of course, the greatest pleasure is in eventually being part of the small contribution to our table that the garden will (fingers -crossed!) have to our table in the fall.

Progress made early in the morning before going to the diner for breakfast. (6/23/13)

Things move quickly once re-energized with joe, toast and eggs. (6/23/13)

Fresh compost for blending into the soil (6/23/13)

Ready, set, GROW! (6/23/13)

...and so begins a new growing season with a variety of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and eggplant.