Burnin’

Jay McInerney likes to read first novels. While reviewing Benjamin Kunkel’s Indecision in today’s Sunday Times, he reveals:

I devour first novels, particularly coming-of-age novels. In its modern form the American bildungsroman (the novel of formation) descends from ”The Catcher in the Rye” (1951). Reinvigorated by feminism in the 70’s, urbanized and coked-up in the 80’s, it was grunged-down and nonfictionalized in the memoir-mad 90’s (not necessarily a terrible development since most first novels are quasi memoirs anyway.)

Though often disappointed and frequently bored senseless by the antics of Holden’s progeny, I still believe there’s a type of cultural news that can be delivered only by those who’ve recently crossed over from the riotous country of adolescence, as well as a new spin on the literary traditions that have long since become reified in the minds of older writers. There are certain zeitgeist frequencies to which young ears are more attuned.

I suppose this is to be expected from the writer of Bright Lights Big City, arguably my generation’s Catcher In The Rye. At any rate, he makes Indecision sound like a book to read.

Indecision seems at times to have been constructed from a kit in which all the ingredients of the modern American bildungsroman have been laid out methodically and chosen after deep deliberation. (Dead-end job? Check. Wanderjahr? Check. Walking eccentrically down street in a bathrobe? Check.)

By the way, the novel draws its name from the main character’s abulia—an inability to make decisions.

Bill Moyer, 73, wears a “B.S. Protector” flap while President Bush addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars at their 106th convention Monday in Salt Lake City. Moyer served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

“Why of course the people don’t want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” – Hermann Goering, April 18, 1946

Metafilter points to this story about the American Legion’s efforts to quell dissent.

The American Legion will stand against anyone and any group that would demoralize our troops, or worse, endanger their lives by encouraging terrorists to continue their cowardly attacks against freedom-loving peoples,” Thomas Cadmus, national commander, told delegates at the group’s national convention in Honolulu.

The delegates voted to use whatever means necessary to “ensure the united backing of the American people to support our troops and the global war on terrorism.”

Cadmus recalled: “For many of us, the visions of Jane Fonda glibly spouting anti-American messages with the North Vietnamese and protestors denouncing our own forces four decades ago is forever etched in our memories. We must never let that happen again.”

“We had hoped that the lessons learned from the Vietnam War would be clear to our fellow citizens. Public protests against the war here at home while our young men and women are in harm’s way on the other side of the globe only provide aid and comfort to our enemies.”

This Cadmus is a smart one. He understands that every war protestor’s ultimate aim is to encourage terrorists to “continue their cowardly attacks” against us. With geniuses like this defending the cause, there’s really very little to worry about.

photo courtesy of Heather B. Armstrong

I’ve also seen a t-shirt with the question, “Who would Jesus torture?”

Hartford Courant: Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and former Republican presidential candidate, sounded like he belonged to the Goodfellas Club Monday when he advocated the assassination of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez.

Mr. Chavez, a populist and a harsh critic of the United States, poses “a terrific danger” and ought to be eliminated, opined Mr. Robertson on the Christian Broadcasting Network’s “The 700 Club.”

“I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination,” said an incensed Mr. Robertson, “but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think we really ought to go ahead and do it. … We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.”

Two years ago, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. On another occasion, he critiqued feminism as a movement that encourages women “to kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”

Associated Press: Getting a 34-year Harvard man to abandon one of the nation’s most prestigious business schools for an Idaho church college seems like a task that would demand divine revelation.

For Kim Clark, who left his post as Harvard Business School dean last week, it came down to the next best thing.

A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Clark took a call in May from Gordon Hinckley, the 95-year-old president of the Mormons. Hinckley asked the economist to head Brigham Young University-Idaho, in Rexburg, which just five years ago was a two-year junior college.

“You have to appreciate what this is like,” the 56-year-old Clark said. “We behold him (Hinkley) to be a prophet. Imagine yourself getting a call from Moses.”

Clark’s move, viewed from inside the church, could be seen as a promotion: Some say this establishes Clark, a former Mormon bishop, as a rising star. His predecessor as university president, David Bednar, was named in 2004 to the “Quorum of the 12 Apostles,” a church governing body considered by Mormons to have the same authority as the 12 Biblical apostles.

Clark earned $407,000 a year as HBS dean. BYU-Idaho officials won’t say how much he’ll earn in Rexburg.

USA Today: Books are losing the battle for attention, especially with anyone born after about 1975. From 2003 to 2004, the number of books sold worldwide dropped by 44 million. True, there are still 2.3 billion books sold each year, but the bottom line is that people are flocking to the Web, TiVo, cell phone screens, PlayStation Portables and DVDs while buying fewer books.

Books risk becoming the equivalent of pot roast in a world full of ethnic foods. There will always be a place for pot roast, but it sure isn’t the place it occupied 30 years ago.

To avoid that fate, the concept of a book might have to change. But how?

Author and activist Cory Doctorow hopes to find out. In June, he released his latest novel, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, online for free on the same day his publisher released printed copies to bookstores. On his Web site, Doctorow encourages fans: “When you download my book, please: Do weird and cool stuff with it. Imagine new things that books are for. Then tell me about it … so I can be the first writer to figure out what the next writerly business model is.”

He’s not thinking that the future of books is simply reading book-length text on a screen instead of on paper pages. He’s thinking it’s something that happens when you decouple the content from the medium.

“For almost every writer, the number of sales they lose because people never hear of their book is far larger than the sales they’d lose because people can get it for free online,” Doctorow says. “The biggest threat we face isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity.”

I haven’t lived in Utah since 1997, and it’s a rare day that I actually miss the place. Sure, I miss my friends, but not necessarily the Beehive State. Today is different. I clicked through several of Heather Armstrong’s photos and sure enough the nostalgia kicked in. Today, I miss Utah and my friends.

Quite possibly the best Mexican restaurant in the world

photo by Jason Reed of Reuters

The thing I love about Cindy Sheehan’s vigil outside the Bush compound in Crawford, TX is her level-headed, on-message delivery. TV journalists try to trip her up and paint her as a partisan pawn, but she gives not an inch to these scumbags. She stays true to her mission—to find out from the President the real reason her son died in Iraq.

I also love her line of questioning. “If this war is so noble,” she asks, “is the President encouraging his two daughters to fight?”

Radical architect, Adam Kalkin, lives in a unique shelter in New Jersey called “Bunny Lane”. It’s a small house fitted inside an industrial shed.

Kalkin is also noted for building the Quick House from recycled shipping containers. In the Vassar College alumni magazine, Kalkin, who studied English as an undergrad, says:

The cargo containers, with a life span of about 20 years when used for their original purpose, have an “infinite life span” when stationary and properly maintained. Giving these formerly mobile containers a permanent home as homes means that despite providing the structure for a brand-new house, each container comes with its own ready-made and traveled history. “You can look at them both as junk or as something special,” Kalkin notes. “To me they are like a treasured antique: they may not be inherently valuable, but the history and the storytelling add value.” Kalkin’s inventive architectural vision grows directly out of his belief in interconnectedness. He argues, “We come from a culture of sampling. I’m just out there in the world picking out things and reusing things—sampling—from my experience and from what other people have already invested a lot of time and energy in. I think there’s a tremendous amount of richness out there.”

DK invited me to prepare a paper and attend an Ethics conference at Ringling School of Art + Design in Sarasota this November.

Here’s the synopsis: The “creative class” has emerged as a hot job market in the 21st century economy. Artists and designers increasingly shape not only the art of the gallery or museum, but also consumer products, public and personal spaces, films and TV programs, and corporate images. With the rise of “new media,” images have become more powerful, and new non-linear, digital, and interactive modes of storytelling have challenged us all to new standards of visual and media literacy. This long reach of the arts into everyday and public life raises a variety of ethical issues pertaining to the social responsibility of artists and those who teach them. Government funding, artistic collaboration and appropriation, sustainable design, freedom of expression, ethnic representation, and commodification are just a sample of the topics that arise as we attempt to assess the impact of artists on society. How can we encourage aspiring artists and designers to anticipate these issues and respond with a strong sense of social responsibility?

Caterina has a definite knack for finding great things to post about, especially for those who find living in a container an attractive proposition.

Container Homes Reference desk:
http://www.covepark.org/
http://www.lot-ek.com/index.htm
http://www.containercity.com/
http://www.architectureandhygiene.com/12conHouse/12con_main.html

USA Today is running a favorable piece on my hometown in today’s edition.

Omaha has tremendous wealth, industry and influence for being in the middle of nowhere. It ranks eighth among the nation’s 50 largest cities in both per-capita billionaires and Fortune 500 companies. San Francisco is the leader in billionaires per 1 million people, even after the dot-com bust trimmed the list. Atlanta is the leader in Fortune 500 companies per 1 million people. But no city, not even the major coastal giants, can claim a ranking as high as Omaha on both lists. Not San Francisco. Not Los Angeles nor New York — nor Houston. Philadelphia and Baltimore haven’t a single billionaire between them, nor do 15 other cities in the top 50 by population. Honolulu has no Fortune 500 companies, nor do a dozen other cities among the largest 50.