Burnin’

“To the fucking rich man all poor people look the same.” -Patterson Hood

Last night, while considering the meaning of Drive-By Truckers’ song, “The Southern Thing,” I was struck by a self-evident but often overlooked fact of American history–that only rich Southerns held slaves. America is now, and has always been a culture defined by class distinctions.

This morning, while reading “The Socialist Senator,” a piece on Bernie Sanders in The New York Times Magazine, I was struck by the noble path this uncommon common man has chosen. It’s not easy to buck societal, nor political norms and win. But win he has, ever since 1980 when the people of Burlington first made him mayor.

Mark Liebovich, the Times writer on the story looks at the reasons behind the new Senator’s success. They are more personal, than political, which works well in a state of 620,000.

Sanders has made himself known in a state small enough — physically and in terms of population — for someone, particularly a tireless someone, to insinuate himself into neighborly dialogues and build a following that skirts ideological pigeonholes. Indeed, there are no shortages of war veterans or struggling farmers in Vermont who would seemingly have no use for a humorless aging hippie peacenik Socialist from Brooklyn, except that Sanders has dealt with many of them personally, and it’s a good bet his office has helped them procure some government benefit.

On what drives the man to espouse Socialist values:

Sanders’s parents were Jewish immigrants from Poland. His father, Eli, a struggling paint salesman who saw his family wiped out in the Holocaust, worried constantly about supporting his wife and two sons. His mother, Dorothy, dreamed of living in a “private home,” but they never made it beyond their three-and-a-half-room apartment on East 26th and Kings Highway. She died at age 46, when Bernie was 19. “Sensitivity to class was imbedded in me then quite deeply,” Sanders told me.

According to the article, Sanders has a poster of Eugene Debs on his office wall. It’s a telltale sign. Debs was a founder of The Industrial Workers of the World, a.k.a. The Wobblies.

Socialism isn’t some freak show in American politics. Rather it’s one of the most important voices for labor the nation has ever seen. Given the present day corporate takeover the White House, the courts and Congress, I’d say Sanders is exactly what the doctor ordered.

I read Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in a graduate school class a few years ago. It’s an outstanding American novel, so I’m pleased to learn that thousands of high school students will be reading it next month thanks to an initiative from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The NEA found that literary reading in America is declining rapidly among all age groups, and that the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young. Their program, The Big Read, aims to address this crisis by providing citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities.

Louisville, Kentucky is one community picking up the ball, or book, as the case may be. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, the city’s library has purchased and distributed over 5000 copies of Hurtson’s novel.

“This is the most ever we’ve bought of any one title,” said Craig Buthod, director of the Louisville Free Public Library. “This goes beyond just reading. It’s about coming together and talking about what you’ve read. It forces you to think differently and more deeply about what you’ve read.”

Creative Class spokesman, Richard Florida spoke in front of 800 people in Savannah last month. I missed it, but I saw him speak at SXSW in 2003, so I know first-hand the message the man delivers.

Creative Coast Initiatve executive director Chris Miller was there. Miller left a lengthy comment on Florida’s blog about the experience and how Savannah fits the bill for a city able to attract members of the so-called Creative Class.

Even as many (if not most) other cities shed creative, young professionals, Savannah is not only bucking the national trends by not losing there folks, we are a rare place that is growing the 25-34 age demographic at a rate exceeding the overall population growth of the area!

Ironically enough, they are coming from other major metro areas that attracted young folks in the 90’s but are now losing them to smaller, more soulful places where they can more easily engage in the community and express their creativity in a cultured but quirky place that embraces them.

In my view, Savannah College of Art + Design must be credited with bringing thousands of young creative people to town, many of whom opt to stay in Georgia’s first city after graduation. The ones who do stay tend to work for, or create their own, creative companies–proving that an investment is education is the best investment a person, a city or a nation can make.

p.s. Tune in to SCAD Radio for some fresh sounds.

The Hilton Head Chamber of Commerce paid California-based Believable Brands 60 Large for insights into the Hilton Head brand. That’s right, Hilton Head is more than a home to 30,000 beachcombers and a great place to visit for millions–it’s also a brand that needs promoting.

The Island Packet, a McClatchy newspaper, reveals the strategic communications guidelines established by Believable Brands.

The island “renews and enriches a visitor’s body and spirit through a sophisticated, relaxing and aesthetically beautiful and lush South Carolina seaside resort environment,” the brand statements say. And Bluffton is a “historic creative community located on the May River that is a tapestry of eclectic arts and eco-adventure.”

These insights were then delivered to Smith Advertising and Associates, a North Carolina firm that specializes in tourism marketing. Some of Smith’s creative is shown above.

According to Hilton Head Island MLS, the chamber receives about $1 million a year for tourism marketing from Hilton Head’s share of the state tax on overnight lodging. This year the chamber received an extra $450,000 for the brand study and the subsequent marketing campaign.

We went to Atlanta’s High Museum yesterday. People were clamoring to see items on loan from The Louvre, but I didn’t care for that exhibit. The pieces that stood out for me were in the permanent Folk Art collection. Particularly, Howard Finster’s “sacred art” and the following piece from Ned Cartledge:

“The Flag Waiver,” 1970, Carved wood with paint

In the scene above a civil rights protestor is being stepped on, while a journalist is being silenced. Sadly, such things don’t belong to art and history, but to the present day, as well. The New York Times reports that 2006 was was the deadliest year on record for journalists and news media workers worldwide, with at least 155 killings and unexplained deaths.