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| Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Jan. 28 �
January 28, 2023
WHEN in the course of human events things get really personalYou may have already read that Gerard Van der Leun died yesterday. The search engine shows the entry for his American Digest blog with "WHEN in the course of human events it becomes . . ." He had a broad array of interests, but among them, American freedom and liberty, along with distinctive elements of the American experience, were common themes in his blog entries. Today, the focus there is more personal. We learned of his passing from another blogger, Neo, whose site gets linked here a lot, The New Neo. We learned just a few days ago that Gerard and Neo had been a couple for a long time: I know that most of you have gotten the news that Gerard Vanderleun is in hospice care now. It is inexpressibly sad. I think it worked out well that they kept their relationship out of their respective blogs. But her description highlights the fact that, though most people would consider him to be very masculine, he was generally very open about his feelings in his writing. On a personal note for me, her revelation means that they had a relationship at the time he lost his home in Paradise, California to the Camp Fire in 2018. We got smoke from that fire, and we heard and read about a lot of people who lost more than he did in the fire. It's kind of a comfort to learn now that they had a relationship, even though he had family in the area. And he still had his car, laptop and kitten. Others lost much more. There were other fires that year, too. The whole Valley was full of anxiety. Some people and institutions coped, and helped, better than others. Still, Gerard went through a lot during this time period. He moved into his mother's apartment in Chico. She was 104 years old. He wrote about taking her to Thanksgiving dinner at his brother's house not long after the fire: Of late my mother has become a fan of the diva, Sarah Brightman, and one of her CDs is playing as we make the final turn towards my brother's place and, of course, Brightman's version of "Dust in the Wind" plays its four minutes when we are five minutes away. My mother listens thoughtfully and says nothing. I'm finding it difficult to see clearly. And then we are there. After two sets of Grace for this family's deliverances this year, the turkey and side dishes are heaped and reheaped on the plates. Then it is desert and some football during digestion. I walk outside with a glass full of the local Placerville wine to a little patch of needles and leaves under the pines, now soaked with rain and hence, for now, less lethal.
If you would like to look around American Digest a little more today, the following showed up on the search engine and in the back pages for me: Poem with an ironic meme that you can find yourself on the site: Who Am I? My head knocks against the stars. My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe. The Centenarian: Arthur Warner McNair This is a story about Gerard's visit with his mother to see his uncle on the latter's 100th birthday. Features remarkable examples of community cohesion, plus a new way to think about dementia. There are some signs in this piece that Gerard was once a pro in the dead tree publishing business. Monkey in a Box: Best long read of the year so far This is a family story by another writer, chosen late last year by Gerard. Never embarrass your mother during her bridge party. This has to be terribly difficult for Neo. From the announcement at her own site yesterday: Gerard died peacefully in the small hours of the morning. He left instructions to me for two last posts of his that he wanted me to publish on his blog. I will probably do that tomorrow. I also will be cross-posting a few more essays of my own about Gerard, but I will keep his two last posts pinned at the top of the page there. Therefore you'll need to scroll down past them to get to any new ones. You might want to drop her a line. From the comments, a link to a memorial piece Gerard wrote for his brother. It includes descriptions of adventures for kids in gold country in California: Once we were seated in the principal's office ringed by every authority figure short of the National Guard our interrogation commenced. The questioning could be boiled down into: But of course, it wasn't the end. I imagine that our parents were so numbed by their sons' stupidity and grateful they weren't scraping said sons off the jagged black face of the lava flow that they could not find room for anger. Instead, we were forced to take, after cake, a solemn oath that we would never, ever again go to the place called "X." Gerard chose a song to go with the story: "WHEN in the course of human events it becomes . . . I ran across a quote from the late Roger Scruton that summarizes much of the craziness we are seeing in the country right now. Interesting that he specifies "revolutionary government." I don't think it quite fits the American Revolution. Thoughts? Revolutionary government inevitably moves in a totalitarian direction, absorbing subsidiary social powers, and conscripting the population to its ill-considered purposes. Moreover, because the goal is always receding, the regime must manufacture a conspiracy of enemies" This quote invites careful reading, I think. Roger Scruton died in January of 2020. I can think of lots of examples of the phenomena he described here which have taken place since then. Can you? Music Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend. This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread. Last week's thread, January 21, How much should we be focusing on the almost extraterrestrial meetings in Davos? Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway. Last comment from last week, from Gentlemen, this is junta manifest: I would rather be governed by the first 50 commentators on the HQ than any participant in this Davos spectacle. | Recent Comments
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