It's that time of the year again

Christmas comes but once a year

And when it comes, it brings good cheer

So, it's time for one of my longstanding Christmas traditions: listening to the Beatles' Christmas album. This collection of seven Beatles singles was recorded and sent out to members of their fan club each year from 1963 through 1970. The Beatles were famous for their wit and repartee: these quips and skits and ad-libed bits of songs (many never made available elsewhere) give a good sense of what it was must have been like to be in the room.

After the group broke up, John recorded a final song on his own that ends it all on a pognant note: his "Give Peace a Chance"  beginning with 

 "And so this is Christmas . . ."  

In this time of great stress and strife, it helps once in a while to indulge in a little sillyness.

Unfortunately, my original tape, which dates back to 1980/81, has long since worn out. Now the replacement cd I made of it is barely audible as well.  Luckily there is YouTube. For a sample ofwhat one year's installment (in this case, 1965, the third) might sound like,  give this a listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZWBtMF2DTE

For a more involved compilation which draws together the Xmas material with other Beatles material given the fan club / Beatles treatment, see 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUvCPkp0H0U

--John R.

--current reading: Sarbon.

The Duwamish Longhouse

So, for a long time now I've been wanting to visit the Duwamish longhouse the (reconstructed) dining hall  /  cultural center and museum and gift shop along the lower banks of Seattle's major river. Last week we finally made it. if you're at all interested in such things, I recommend making a visit.

The original longhouse does not survive, but building this new one seems to have been part of a resurgence of the Duwamish people, the Native American people who lived along the banks of the local rivers system --especially the Green River, the area around the mouth of which is still known as the Duwamish, as well as the Black River (only a small marshy bit of which survives) and Cedar River (completely remade around the turn of the twentieth century into a salmon run).

The Duwamish people were dispersed in the 1850s. Denied a reservation, and official recognition, they were forced to the margins. By the time of the Native American rights movement got going, there were too few of them left to meet the federal guidlines for establishing a reservation, opening a casino, and the like. That is, there are people in the area who can prove their direct descent from Duwamish living in the area continuously since the time of Chief Seattle himself. But there are none of full Duwamish descent.

However things work out in the long term, it's good that the Duwamish people are no longer being persecuted and have a symbolic icon like the Longhouse to help them recover and preserve relics and their culture. 

--John R

-- P.S.: These photos of Duwamish, on bookmarks at the checkout counter in the gift shop, give a good idea of what their life was like a century and more ago.  I think each bears the slogan

WE ARE STILL HERE, which I take it to be their motto.

Quote of the Day

"If we believe absurdities

we shall commit atrocities'

--Voltaire

Came across this the day before yesterday.

If I'd known Voltaire was this good, I'd have read more of him.

 

Poison Springs Confederate battleground

So, I've been reading lately James W. Loewen's LIES ACROSS AMERICA. I'd thought this would be a sort of road trip, with Loewen driving cross country, making frequent stops to read those little historical markers you see all over the place--Loewen's point being that there's little or no standard for what passes as history in such markers.

In fact, it turns out some such markers are fairly innocuous, while others have agendas we shd be wary of.  

As the son of a historian who was way ahead of the curve when it came to embracing what can be called the Dee Brown revolution,  and the grandson on the other side of an old-school Southerner who wrote a book denouncing Reconstruction, this is all in the family, so to speak.

Yesterday, though, a passing reference to to Poison Springs State Park really threw me. For one thing,  I was a long-time Scout (an Eagle Scout. with palms. in the Order of the Arrow).

For another, I've been to Poison Springs. It's less than forty miles from my home town. Our troup went over there once, to build wooden plank walkways, along with tall blue signposts, returning for hikes there later on.

It's one thing to know that there was a Civil War battle site near where I lived when I was growing up. 

It's quite another to learn, as I did yesterday, that there were war crimes here: captive Union soldiers executed after the battle by the victorious Confederates.

And learning that has been deeply unsettling.

 Over the years I've become more aware of the links between the Boy Scouts and Confederate history. 

But it's going to take more than carefully worded accounts on recently erected historical markers for me to process this.

--John R

--current reading on the Kindle: Loewen's LIES ACROSS AMERICA

Susanna Clarke's nod to Tolkien

So,  the following, taken from one of Susanna Clarke's inimitable footnotes, ought to sounds familliar to readers of J. R. R. T.:

"The truth is that the brugh [fairy-mound] 

was a hole of interconnecting holes that was  

dug into a barrow, very like a rabbit's warren 

or badger's set. To paraphrase a writer of fanciful 

stories for children, this was not a comfortable

hole, it was not even a dry, bare sandy hole; it 

was a nasty, dirty, wet hole.

--THE LADIES OF GRACE ADIEU .176

--John R.

current reading: LIES ACROSS AMERICA by James W. Loewen

current audiobook: John Garth's TOLKIEN'S GREAT WAR

Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference

 So, I'll be busy this weekend, attending the Celebration for Christopher Tolkien, who wd have been a hundred years old this week.  It's an online conference (webinar) hosted by the Tolkien Society via Zoom.

I'll be taking part, first as a member of a Q&A / Roundtable talking about editing Tolkien (e.g., my work on THE HISTORY OF THE HOBBIT).  Then I'll also be giving a talk whose official title is "Editing THE HOBBIT" but which might as well be "Christopher, Taum, and Me".

The list of speakers is impressive; pity that time zones mean some events starting as early as 3.a.m my time.  Fortunately they'll be recording presentations for folks who miss out to catch specific speakers later via recording.

My events, for those interested, are at 11.30 to 12.30  ROUNDTABLE with Dimitra Fimi, Peter Grybaukas, Andrew Higgins, and JDR.

EDITING THE HOBBIT, my other event, is at 1 pm and lasts for thirty minutes.

I know I'll be attending as many events as I can fit in and can stay awake for.

If you're interested, drop by and give it a look-see.

--John R.

Ghost Posts

So, here's a piece in The Guardian that explains a lot: 

Ghost jobs: why do 40% of companies advertise positions that don’t exist?

"A survey has revealed that the practice is widespread, with many companies going as far as fake-interviewing too"

This syncs up with a lot of anecdotal accounts but places it within a context and rationale:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/oct/30/ghost-jobs-why-do-40-of-companies-advertise-positions-that-dont-exist 

Thoroughly reprehensible, but no solution presents itself, at least in the short term.

--John R.