Wednesday, May 18, 2005
50 book challenge department:
Book 30. I picked up a book today. Literally; it had been set out for the trash.
Andrew Young, An Easy Burden: the civil rights movement and the transformation of america. I'm only a few pages into it, out of 500+, so review later. So far I like it, where he is describing his black middle class background family values; it seems a lot like my own family's experience. I realize there are middle class blacks today who share those values; I'm thinking of some of the people I went to law school with.
And there were disfunctional black families back then. But one can mourn the passing of those values, the descent into decadence, inner cities that look like haiti or rwanda.
The lenny bruce bio, which i'm still working on, documents a slice of this period. Lenny's father was hard working and wanted a better life for his son. Lenny stole, swindled, did hard drugs that killed him, had wild orgies, numerous abortions, was crass and vulgar and disgusting, and, from what I've read so far, wasn't all that funny. Before this book, I'd considered him a bit of a hero, certainly a free speech activist in the tradition i'm working in.
My parents seemed to wish life was still 1940s Kansas City, and I spent years and energy rebelling against some parts of that. But there needs to be more than just tearing things down. Is there a way to keep, to conserve, the good stuff in our heritage, while trying to make changes for the better? Tough questions, stuff to think about. The Andrew Young book will give yet another perspective on the Kennedy/Johnson research I've been doing.
In the last ten pages I just read in the tub, Bruce frames his wife on a drug possession charge, kidnaps their baby, gets a divorce. She does time while he works his way up the club scene.
Back to Andrew Young.
On page 9, I underlined a line, which I almost never do.
"In my family, faith and a good education were intertwined with the commission to serve others. To that end I was raised on Luke 12:48: "With great power, comes great responsibility."
Ok, I've taken a bit of liberty with the original aramaic (greek?) but that's the sense of it.
KJV: But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.
ISV: Much will be required from everyone to whom much has been given.
Book 30. I picked up a book today. Literally; it had been set out for the trash.
Andrew Young, An Easy Burden: the civil rights movement and the transformation of america. I'm only a few pages into it, out of 500+, so review later. So far I like it, where he is describing his black middle class background family values; it seems a lot like my own family's experience. I realize there are middle class blacks today who share those values; I'm thinking of some of the people I went to law school with.
And there were disfunctional black families back then. But one can mourn the passing of those values, the descent into decadence, inner cities that look like haiti or rwanda.
The lenny bruce bio, which i'm still working on, documents a slice of this period. Lenny's father was hard working and wanted a better life for his son. Lenny stole, swindled, did hard drugs that killed him, had wild orgies, numerous abortions, was crass and vulgar and disgusting, and, from what I've read so far, wasn't all that funny. Before this book, I'd considered him a bit of a hero, certainly a free speech activist in the tradition i'm working in.
My parents seemed to wish life was still 1940s Kansas City, and I spent years and energy rebelling against some parts of that. But there needs to be more than just tearing things down. Is there a way to keep, to conserve, the good stuff in our heritage, while trying to make changes for the better? Tough questions, stuff to think about. The Andrew Young book will give yet another perspective on the Kennedy/Johnson research I've been doing.
In the last ten pages I just read in the tub, Bruce frames his wife on a drug possession charge, kidnaps their baby, gets a divorce. She does time while he works his way up the club scene.
Back to Andrew Young.
On page 9, I underlined a line, which I almost never do.
"In my family, faith and a good education were intertwined with the commission to serve others. To that end I was raised on Luke 12:48: "With great power, comes great responsibility."
Ok, I've taken a bit of liberty with the original aramaic (greek?) but that's the sense of it.
KJV: But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.
ISV: Much will be required from everyone to whom much has been given.
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