A bit of reminiscing by Canadian conservatives. Worth the time to read.I just finished Ted Morgan’s rather long biography of William Burroughs. For a guy who shot his wife dead and was a heroin addict most of his life, not to mention a weird sort of homosexual avatar, Burroughs had many glittering friends and a remarkably dull life.
I like literary biography as a genre and will read lit bios more or less to fill in the missing pieces of the English literary enterprise in the 20th century. Burroughs’ own work I have found unreadable and now that I know, in excruciating detail, from whence it came, I should not be surprised. Give me Gore Vidal anytime.
On eBay, I found a stash of Tom Wolfe’s early work. Four dilapidated pocket books chronicling the end of the Beats and the birth of the Hippies. The shorter form journalism of The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby remains a pleasure with Wolfe getting the rise of American prole/teen culture in the early sixties exactly right.
From Junior Johnson and stock car racing to slot cars to Hot Rods and demolition derbies - plus Las Vegas - he demonstrates the sheer power of the underclass with a bit of World War II money. It’s a bit dated now - “style of life” for “lifestyle” - but Wolfe’s journalism says a lot about America in an age of optimism.
More at the link:
An interesting look at recent cultural history, only I guess it's not all that recent.
I grew up as part of that 1968 generation--Class of '65. All that rebellion and stuff looked really kewl, and there I was stuck in Vietnam or Okinawa or Thailand, eventually in West Berlin. They were doing neato-keano stuff and I had to work. All that wasted time and energy was because I didn't realize how damned boring they were.
Wolfe really was a great writer. "The Right Stuff" describes what real he-men are like. Not the tough guys with tattoos up and down their arms, or the yo boys haunting street corners and packin' unregistered heat. Wolfe defined the difference between the two types--I sometimes think of them as two species, kinda like the difference between thoroughbreds and jackasses.
All the easy choices in life seem to lead to the jackass stable. They've even had a teevee show about them. High school too much for you? Drop out, get a tattoo on your neck and go relax in the stable. Finished with high school and feel like coasting for four years? Major in modern dance or Black Studies or Gender Studies. You won't have a job when you get your degree, but there's lots of room in the stables and you can probably support yourself pouring overpriced coffee at Starbucks'. He's handsome, your're drunk and not on the pill? Go ahead and shuck your drawers. If you find yourself sober and with child (that's assuming you're ever sober) there's lots of room in the stables.
"I hate Americans!" Whatsername said the other day as she was licking the icing off the counter display at the donut shoppe. She was demonstrating to her friends (she didn't know about the video camera) that she's a by-Gum rebel. Not a Confederate battle flag kind of rebel, mind you; they were ucky and they oppressed all those Negroes and she's glad they're all dead now. She's the female equivalent of the Marlon Brando Rebel Without a Cause movie, or like James Dean. What she really hates is White People, even though she is one.
It's always possible to cease being a jackass, even though the numbers say it doesn't happen very often. It takes goals, with milestones along the way from You Are Here to There. It takes hard work and diligence. Usually it takes teamwork to get there, which is a different thing from Collective Effort™. It takes a willingness to use the tools that are available, rather than sitting down and complaining about their lack or inadequacy.
We live (or have lived) in an age where it's possible for the poorest, most downtrodden among us to be just as good as any member of landed gentry. Being a "gentleman" or a "lady" depends not on birth, but on character.
The fact that there aren't more ladies and gents is a pretty black commentary on humanity.