July 2007 - Page 4 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

From Buffalo to Albany

Mr. Byzantium’s Shores, the guy in the overalls from Buffalo, was generous enough to give, not only me, but a bunch o’ folks five questions. Here they are. I did consider answering with two or three words, but since he seemed to work so hard… Still, in the ALT sections, I’ll give the terse answer.

1. So what’s it like living in Albany and reading other bloggers like myself who gripe about “the folks in Albany”?

See, “Albany” is two things, really: the dysfunctional state government, and the dysfunctional local government. Those of you not from NYS might not be aware of the tiff between Gov. Spitzer and State Senate Majority Leader Bruno; o, that I were one of them. However we’ve come to this place where we’ve long had a difficult time passing a budget on time (though the last one was, shockingly, only a half day late), where the Democratic Assembly and the Republican Senate can pass all the one-house bills they want, because they are inconsequential. The only stuff that DOES get passed is “feel good” stuff.

Now, the city of Albany is a somewhat different animal. For decades, this town was run by a Democratic machine that the original Mayor Daley of Chicago would have envied. We had one mayor, Erastus Corning, for 41 years, until his death in 1983. The progressives have slogged against the empire, even as the current mayor, Jerry Jennings, who ran as a reformer back in 1993, has become more autocratic, with a weak (and by that, I mean structurally) city council. There was a move for reforming the charter that had popular support, yet, through what I can only call chicanery, failed to make it to the ballot.

All of that said, I like Albany. It’s the right-sized town for me. It has some decent mass transport – could be better, but I’ve experienced worse; it has an educated population, due in part to the colleges here and nearby; and it has so much potential to be a lot more.

ALT- It sucks.

2. What made you choose librarianship as a career?

Nothing better to do. This is largely true. I had quit my job at Blue Cross, which I HATED, HATED, HATED, and my friends Jendy, Judy, and Broome, two librarians and a lawyer, all nagged me to go to school. Actually I wrote about this in my second post ever in this blog. It does fit me.

ALT- Boredom.

3. To what extent do you want to slap people upside the head when they suggest that in the day and age of the Internet, public libraries are dispensable luxuries?

I’m a pacifist in action, but I drop 1500-pound boulders on people’s heads mentally when I hear that. In fact, Albany had a vote on funding libraries in February, and some ying-yang said essentially that. I didn’t bother to find his letter, but here’s one response of many; BTW, the budget passed.

ALT- Big time.

4. What’s the strangest request you’ve ever had to field from a library patron (to the extent that you can write about it)?

You know, we get this question all the time, and we never have a ready response. Back in 1993, it was emu and alpaca ranches, but after a few of them, well, maybe they’re not so strange. I suppose what *I* find weird are those requests where somebody doesn’t have a clue what they want, but just want to make lots of money. I find these peculiar, because if you’re going to work 60, 80 hours a week on something, you damn well better love it.

ALT- They’re ALL weird.

5. You’re offered a paid vacation that is to last as long as it takes you to read five books that you’ve always wanted to read but never had the time. What are the books?

I’m going to pick books on the shelves I can see right now; otherwise, I’ll agonize over this.
The Bible, the New Revised Standard Version – I’ve read the King James and the RSV once each.
Personal History by Katherine Graham. She’s interested me at least since Watergate.
Mayor Corning: Albany Icon, Albany Enigma by Paul Grondahl. I’ve read parts of it, but not all the way through. There’s a scene in the book I heard Paul read that I was present at.
The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language by John McWhorter
The Black New Yorkers: the Schomburg Illustrated History

ALT- YOU choose.

Now, per the social contract, here’s where YOU come in. If you hast a blog, I am supposed to come up with five tailor-made questions for you. If you want me to delve into your heart and soul, let me know by leaving your request in the comments box. Jaq, am I to assume that you want five questions from me?

ROG

The Ant and the Grasshopper

There was this article in the Washington Post, alluded to here, that talked about a couple ordering a film on Netflix, then, for some reason, one member of the couple is unable to commit to the film in a timely fashion. What are the ethics involved? I note this only to say that I STILL haven’t seen the May episodes of My Name Is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, the last episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition featuring a family from Albany County, or the Tony Awards. It’s not that I couldn’t see them – I sleep less than Carol – but that the implied contract of seeing them together seems to have superseded my need to see them anything like a timely fashion. It’s the shared viewing that adds to the joy of watching them.

Meanwhile, in all likelihood, you’ve heard of the Aesop fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. In very general terms, Carol is the Ant and I am the Grasshopper. This Grasshopper has done better economically by following the example of The Ant. Still, The Grasshopper does seem to try to bring some of his more laid-back values to the table; it’s an interesting balancing act.

This is definitely learned behavior, for the first time the Grasshopper and the Ant dated, it was only for about 17 months. The Ant’s ways made the Grasshopper crazy, and vice versa. The Grasshopper remembers the time frame only because he celebrated but one of the Ant’s birthdays as part of a couple that first go-round. The Grasshopper remembers that day: July 15, 1995, the date of the window-shaking, tree-felling Albany derecho, which caused considerable damage to the Adirondacks. Once it passed, the Grasshopper and the Ant had a lovely lunch together.

The Grasshopper would like to wish the Ant a very happy birthday. The Grasshopper loves the Ant.

ROG

The QUESTION of Culcha

This is, mais oui, Bastille Day. Even though I was really bad at it, I liked taking French in high school, because I loved the sound of the language. Even words that have entered the English language please me just hearing them. Rendezvous. Reconnaissance. Boulevard. Chandelier.

I’m not a snob about it, but I tend to like French wine, French bread. I’m inclined to see the current movie La Vie En Rose because it features French chanteuse Edith Piaf.

I guess I never understood the antipathy towards France in the lead-up to the Iraq war. After all, the country was supportive of us going into Afghanistan. On 9/12/2001, the front page of Le Monde was “We are all Americans”.

Usually, the argument was that the US “saved their bacon” in WWII. But there might not have been a US if it weren’t for the French support during the American Revolution, a friendship once so rich that they gave us a nice little statue in New York harbor. And the antipathy was far greater towards France than towards Germany or Canada. It wasn’t just the right wing radio pushing for “freedom fries”, it was the right-wing members of Congress. I went to a conference in the fall of 2003 and actually found myself defending the French position on the war at a time that it was not so popular to do.

Oh, and here’s something else I never understood. If one says, red, white and blue, the assumption is that we’re talking about the US flag. But the French flag, and the British, and the Norwegian flag, for that matter, are all that same set of colors, so why is it assumed that we’re talking about the American flag?

Anyway, please let me know:
Are there cultures, languages, cuisine, art that you just LOVE? And why? How is this manifested? If you had the means, would you want to travel to that country? (Yes, I would like to go to France.) Conversely, are there cultures that irritate the heck out of you, and why?
***
And speaking of culture, today is the birthday of one Lynn Moss. I know it’s a cliche to say “his better half”, but I’ve MET Fred Hembeck. (Just funning with you, effendi!)
ROG

Unlucky

I’d like to address a karmic imbalance. Much has been made of the significance of 07/07/07 as a lucky day, so lucky that the number of marriages registered on theknot.com was triple the usual number of July weddings. But that date happens once every century. Meanwhile, we have a Friday the 13th at least once a year, usually twice, occasionally more. This means there are more unlucky days than lucky ones, by a ratio of about 200:1. Even if you choose to embrace 07/07/77, or the Chinese lucky number 8 in 08/08/08, there’s still a wide disparity.

And I can’t find any reference to 7/7/1977 being a day that lots of people were particularly embracing. Maybe, it’s the three 7s, not unlike the slot machines. (Though I did find President Jimmy Carter’s daily log for 7/7/1977).
***
There’s a 30 second video on YouTube: Al Jazeera English – What do you think?, There were, as of last night, nearly 70 response, most of them far longer than the 30 seconds requested (one was 10 minutes!), and most of them reasoned responses, though at least one is not. A couple are very funny. I have no response about Al Jazeera English, because I’m unlucky enough that my cable company, like most in the country, does not show it, even though they don’t charge cable companies for it. It IS available online, however, and I’ll have to make a point of checking it out.
***
New Mexico governor and Presidential candidate Bill Richardson has apologized for using an anti-gay slur. Generally, I like him, though I thought his May 27, 2007 Meet the Press appearance showed up real inconsistencies over the past couple years. I think he still has a good chance of being the Democratic nominee – he’s doing OK in the money race – if the Democrats decide that Barack is too inexperienced and that Hillary is too…Hillary. I think it would be problematic for the party faithful if the Dems fail to nominate either a woman or a black, the folks raising the most money, and they end up with a non-Hispanic white male AGAIN. That said, I really enjoyed watching Ron Paul and Mike Gravel on ABC This Week this past Sunday. Neither has a prayer of winning, but both insist that they’ll be in the White House come January 2009. And if I were a voter in the Republican primary, I would certainly be voting for Ron Paul, who ran as the Libertarian 20 years ago.
***
Boots Randolph died last week. He’s most famous for a song called “Yakkity Sax”, which most people know better as the theme from “Benny Hill”, a show my father loved and I hated. I like the song, though:

***
That youngster Charles Lane died this week. Mark Evanier is all over it. And if you don’t know who Charles Lane was, well, you WILL recognize the face.
***
Can Credit Cards Make You Fat?
***
Sprint drops needy customers.
***
Is Merrin Dungey unlucky that’s she’s been booted off that Grey’s Anatomy spinoff, or will Audra McDonald feel unlucky that she’s gotten the recast part?
***
Bad trip, indeed.
***
ADD found a reference to a report suggesting that copyright should be 14 years. I don’t know about that, but I do feel that Jefferson, Franklin and other Founding Fathers/inventors would feel that the country has been ill-served by the constant lengthening of the copyright period.
***
Someone, I really don’t remember who, suggested that tennis legend Bjorn Borg

is starting to look more like Ed Begley, Jr.

Judge for yourself. (Born is in the middle, between the Wimbledon men’s finalists, winner Roger Federer and runner-up Rafael Nadal.)

And speaking of Wimbledon, Venus Williams makes the Christian Science Monitor. Not unlucky.
***
It would be most unlucky if we lost Eyes on the Prize:

ROG

Cos 70

Final JEOPARDY! for June 11, 2007:
Category: ENTERTAINERS OF THE ’60s
Answer: He won 3 straight Emmys for dramatic acting & a record 6 straight Grammys for comedy albums.
No, not William Shatner or Jackie Gleason, or even Bob Newhart.

I think I’ve given it away.

Yes, it was Bill Cosby. It’s hard to write about him, not because I can’t think of things to say, but because I could write forever about him.

I can’t recall whether it was in the TV show “I Spy” or listening to one of his comedy albums when I first became aware of him. It was a Big Deal when I Spy was on. Here was a black man on TV, a star of the show, not playing a servant or a buffoon. Every black person I knew was watching.

Then there were the albums. I own three of his Grammy-winning LPs, I Started Out As A Child, Why Is There Air? and Wonderfulness, awardees in 1964-1966. They were funny, but as the liner notes on one of them explained, it wasn’t just the content, it was the delivery that became so noteworthy that it was imitated by everyone from Richard Pryor to Jamie Foxx.

Beyond the humor, though, is that I learned a lot. That’s where I found out about Lombard Street, the curvy road in San Francisco, where they put flowers to note where “they bury the people who’ve killed themselves” traversing down it; it was funny the way he said it. I’ve had four wisdom teeth removed, so I know he was right that “Novocaine doesn’t deaden pain, it postpones it. Allows the little pain buddies to get together. ‘We’re going to hit that hole at five o’clock.'” He could make a line like: “And the pain…was tremendous” hysterically funny. “All the ice cream you can eat!” “900 cop cars.” “Smearing Jell-O all over the floor” so that the chicken heart on the radio wouldn’t get him. (I wonder if that routine led to him later being the spokesman for Jell-O pudding.)

The most important lesson, though was about The American Way of Death. Long before I had read Jessica Mitford, I heard Bill Cosby say, about people looking at people in open caskets, “He looks so natural,” to which Cosby retorted, “He looks dead.” He then suggested that a tape recorder could be hooked up. That way the deceased could “reply” to people as they went by. “Don’t I look like myself? It’s good to see you.” And for an additional fee, it could be personalized: “Hello, Bob. How’s the wife and kids? Don’t I look like myself?” This has had a profound impact on how I view burials, which is, at least on this mortal coil, once you’re dead, you’re dead.

I also have a couple of Cosby’s “music” albums. The first, “Silver Throat”, even had a #4 hit in 1967, “Little Old Man,” a musical swipe of Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight.”
And I have a double album on Tetragrammation Records, 8:15/12:15, where he does the same comedy routine twice, with the latter a bit “bluer”. It’s a lesser album, but it DID address the issue of taking the Lord’s name in vain, which Cos said you shouldn’t do because He’s busy “stopping war and things, trying to make it not look like a miracle.” He notes, “I have a friend named Rudy. He ain’t doin’ nothin’. Call on him.” So when you’re hammering, you might hit your “Rudy-damned thumb.”

I watched that show when Cosby played a gym teacher. I watched both the Electric Company and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, though I was in college at the time. And, of course, I watched The Cosby Show, religiously for at least the first six seasons of its eight seasons. I related to those parents. I KNEW those parents; not so much mine, as parents of friends. And the infusion of the music, art and other aspects of black culture in a matter-of-fact way was phenomenal. Also, I loved how, in the first several seasons, that there were variations on the opening theme song. And yes, I probably owned one or two Cosby sweaters.

I felt awful when his son Ennis was murdered 10 years ago. I struggled to understand what he was saying about poor urban youth. No, I didn’t eat JELLO pudding pops. But Bill Cosby is a figure that has been huge in my life.

Happy three score and ten, Cos.
ROG