A Friendly Letter

George Gershwin: Rhapsody In –Cultural Appropriation?

Today is George Gershwin’s 118th birthday (1898-1937). And I’m an unabashed fan. This despite the fact that a key part of his artistic achievement has also made his work controversial for some.

Yes, I’m talking about one of this month’s hot buzzwords, “cultural appropriation.”

This phrase came along after Gershwin left us (way too soon, dead of a brain tumor before age forty); but the charge was around even when he was alive and composing.

Yet from all I gather, Gershwin would not have denied it. Indeed, he was proud of mixing various streams of American musical cultures in his work, even gloried in it.

Yet Gershwin also took pride in not “borrowing” other music, but being influenced by it. His melodies, he insisted, were his own.

Harry’s Razors: Not Making the Algorithmic Cut

Pervasive: Sirius/XM is an example of how Orwell’s 1984 Big Brother society is growing, its tendrils silently stretching & enfolding us like those of the morning glory vines that are taking over the little garden plot outside my kitchen door.

The network knows & tracks everything I listen to, and (besides turning it over to the NSA & whoever other real Spooks want it) uses this “data” to pursue its real goal, that is, selling me stuff. And to do that it sells the data to others likewise tracking me, including the New York Times.

Nothing new or surprising here; part of today’s totally quotidian. And the demographics seemingly make good sense: a Times reader who listens to an earnestly thoughtful show on politics: should be prime for “quality,” somewhat-above-middlebrow products.

Now the limitations part: the product in question is a razor; Harry’s razor, to be specific. Take a bow, Harry:

Harry seems determined to make me a customer: the ad usually pops up several times in each day’s Times, in different shapes & with varying copy. As I say, this has been going on for weeks.

And with each appearance, it reinforces my bemusement. That’s because of how, despite all the impeccable logic applied by the various marketers involved, assisted by their expertly high-tech algorithms, the ad is an utter misfire: I am just not a candidate for Harry’s merchandise.

Life, Death & a Jesus Car Wash

The son of a slain Christian car wash owner says he plans to reopen the Eastern Boulevard business Monday and leave it exactly as his father would have wanted.

“There ain’t nothing changing but the owner,” said Matt Mansfield, the 28-year-old son of Michael Mansfield, who police say was beaten to death early Sunday. “I’ve got all my guys supporting me so I’m going to open full force. I know that’s what my dad wanted me to do.”

Mansfield said the building will keep the same signs, the same blaring music and the same employees at 1st Place Auto Wash & Detail Shop – more commonly known locally as the “Jesus Car Wash.”

North Carolina Yearly Meeting: Is “Reorganization” Beginning?

It’s been pretty quiet around North Carolina Yearly Meeting (FUM) in the weeks since their annual session, when the group stepped back from a formal split.
That was a very close shave. The YM leadership came into the gathering wanting a purge disguised as a split. The steamroller machinery was in place. They trundled it up to the brink, and teetered on the edge.
Then they drew back. Lacking “sufficient unity”, they recalculated and suggest a “reorganization” instead. That was agreed to — but not defined. No one yet knows what it will mean, except that the two-year purge effort has been, thankfully, ended. (More on that here.)
That was one of the two most telling items of the session.
The other was the number 8.
We’ll get to that presently.