Silas Lapham

@silaslapham.bsky.social

549 Followers 330 Following

Fulbrighter, American, African American, Southern literature. medium.com/@interminablerambling [Opinions are my own]

Cover of STP's Purple
Pigeons and ducks at la fontaine Médicis
Minaret at Grande Mosquée de Paris
Vincent and Theo Van Gogh’s graves
The flipping of language benefits demagogues and authoritarians because it deploys rhetoric not on the basis of fact and on the ways that people act but as a dog whistle that dehumanizes individuals through the use of terms heavily laden with symbolic meanings and connotations that pull, ruggedly, on one's psyche. Writing about how hard it is "for the rural white to believe that the southern liberals who champion their rights are not 'Communists, Smith points out that the use of language from the mouths and pens of these power-hungry politicians blind the "rural white" to individuals who "work for higher wages,?, "defend human rights," "oppose war and segregation,' "believe in co-operatives and freedom of conscience," and "fight authoritarianism"
Cover of Aimé Césaire Discourse on Colonialism
Fête national flyover
Sunset in Paris
Sunset in Paris
The ceiling and pulpit on Église Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Image of Albert Camus with Dr. Rieux's words from "The Plague": "It could only be an account of what had to be accomplished, and what will doubtless have to be accomplished again, against terror and its relentless weapon, by all people who, despite their personal heartbreaks, unable to be saints and refusing to accept scoruges, nonetheless resolve to become doctors."
A German Spitz in a bag at a cafe during brunch
Alfred Dreyfus’ grave
Chäim Soutine’s “Arbre couché”
The Medici Fountain in the Jardin du Luxembourg
Along with all of this, King makes it clear that we have a long way to go to renovate the house we have built. While many viewed the election of Barack Obama in 2008 as the ushering in of a post-racial United States, we know that was never the case, and King makes a similar point following advances made during the Civil Rights Movement. King states, “Many whites hasten to congratulate themselves on what little progress we Negroes have made. I’m sure that most whites felt with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, all race problems were automatically solved. Because most white people are so far removed from the life of the average Negro, there has been little to challenge this assumption. Yet Negroes continue to live with racism every day.”
Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard performing at Église Saint-Eustache de Paris
View of scree and pole in Paris cafe.
Street art in Montmarte of Noem as Miss Information
SA Cosby on the wall at Gibert’s
Peter and Jesus in the Sacre Coeur
Sunset over the Seine.
Rose window from outside Notre Dame
Cover of the Olive Tree
A dog looking at the camera
Cover of Chuck Brown and Prenzy’s “On the Stump” trade paperback
A civilization that proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilization. A civilization that chooses to close its eyes to its most crucial problems is a sick civilization. A civilization that plays fast and loose with its principles is a dying civilization.
Covers of Jan Carson’s “The Fire Starters” and Wendy Erskine’s “The Benefactors.”
The Eiffel Tower at night
Mural on Falls Road with words “Ireland says no to Genocide Joe” as he holds his bleeding hands out to people kneeling before him.
As Smith points out in Killers of the Dream, "It is equally hard for the rural white to believe that the southern liberals who champion their right are not 'Communists." The epithet becomes a weapon, a term laced with negative connotations, to disparage any thought of equal benefits and security. If a Christian fights for "higher wages," against "demagogurery," "human rights," in opposition of war, and for "freedom of conscience and speech," they get labeled "Communist."
View from Floyen in Bergen, Norway.
Why I Want a Dog Why I want a dog. I have many reasona why|wanta dog yet they might not help much with this easay. The firat reason I want a dog is because they are super cute. But that is not going to get me a dog. My second reason is that some are super playiu love to dote uke neving a brother or sister. My third reason is because i can train it. I w to sive a snotatainin: a dog- My fourth reason is it'll keep me busy b if don't have anything to do ld be really bored. My fifth reason i that haven't re: My sixth reason is that I want b ust want to nue memo ith a pet, just only 4 years. gate my homework. JK. Really Ber member to the family. My it be outside more instead of being on have something that are entire family could enjoy which would bring us closer together. My ninth reason is we could feed are disgusting leftovers to the dog. My tenth and final reason is for mom. The dog could be in the family photo:Cl
Cover of Stefan Zweig’s “Confusion” showing a man with his head on his crossed hands staring at a lamp.
Shirt with Andrew Clyde’s face and guns in the background that reads “RE-ELECT * ★★**★ ANDREW CLYDE = U.S. CONGRESS — REPUBLICAN SECOND AMENDMENT CHAMPION”
Cover of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’sThe Thing Around Your Neck”
THE TRAMP'S NEW WORLD* by James Agee A. SHORTEST POSSIBLE OUTLINE OF STORY Without warning, a super-atomic Bomb is dropped, which outdoes the grandest expectations of those who set it off. All life on the planet, human and subhuman, is instantly exterminated, so far as we can tell; so, of course, is the Power by which civilization had been run. But there is one survivor, the Tramp. In a long solo he wanders the absolute desolation of New York (or some huge "in-ternationalized" metropolis), examining civilization as it looked in the fraction of a second before it ceased to live. When this last living creature on earth (so far as we know) is on the verge of dying, of pure loneliness, awesome horror, and meaninglessness, he discovers in quick succession two good, all-redeeming reasons to be alive: an almost newborn baby, which he tries to take care of; then a young woman (not the baby's mother). Transfigured now with an abounding energy and hopefulness, the Tramp and the Girl improvise, any of the broken relics of the slain civilization, the first human shelter, and build the first fire in the new-born world whose human symbol is the baby. They are a kind of Adam-and-Eve, Holy Family Robinson, and tnis is the high point of hope, peace, beauty and joy in the picture: the largest and smallest unit of which something like thorough good and happiness can be hoped: the family. However as we now beain to learn, there are other survivors. The first ordinary, solid man to impinge on the Tramp's little family, immediately settles the Tramp's hash with the girl. From then on the Tramp is just a combination baby-sitter Agee's fragmentary draft holograph manuscript for his Chaplin screenplay, held at The Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, was untitled and named to in this text as The Tramp's New World. posthumously. The newly discovered, complete, typed manuscript
THE TRAMP'S NEW WORLD* by James Agee A. SHORTEST POSSIBLE OUTLINE OF STORY Without warning, a super-atomic Bomb is dropped, which outdoes the grandest expectations of those who set it off. All life on the planet, human and subhuman, is instantly exterminated, so far as we can tell; so, of course, is the Power by which civilization had been run. But there is one survivor, the Tramp. In a long solo he wanders the absolute desolation of New York (or some huge "in-ternationalized" metropolis), examining civilization as it looked in the fraction of a second before it ceased to live. When this last living creature on earth (so far as we know) is on the verge of dying, of pure loneliness, awesome horror, and meaninglessness, he discovers in quick succession two good, all-redeeming reasons to be alive: an almost newborn baby, which he tries to take care of; then a young woman (not the baby's mother). Transfigured now with an abounding energy and hopefulness, the Tramp and the Girl improvise, any of the broken relics of the slain civilization, the first human shelter, and build the first fire in the new-born world whose human symbol is the baby. They are a kind of Adam-and-Eve, Holy Family Robinson, and tnis is the high point of hope, peace, beauty and joy in the picture: the largest and smallest unit of which something like thorough good and happiness can be hoped: the family. However as we now beain to learn, there are other survivors. The first ordinary, solid man to impinge on the Tramp's little family, immediately settles the Tramp's hash with the girl. From then on the Tramp is just a combination baby-sitter Agee's fragmentary draft holograph manuscript for his Chaplin screenplay, held at The Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas, Austin, was untitled and named to in this text as The Tramp's New World. posthumously. The newly discovered, complete, typed manuscript version is referred
Cover of BLACK EARTH THE HOLOCAUST AS HISTORY AND WARNING by TIMOTHY SNYDER
Cover of Joe Posnanski’s “Why We Love Baseball”
A puppy looking at you from monkey grass
"Many whites hasten to congratulate themselves on what little progress we Negroes have made. I'm sure that most whites felt with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, all race problems were automatically solved. Because most white people are so far removed from the life of the average Negro, there has been little to challenge this assumption. Yet Negroes continue to live with racism every day."
Many whites hasten to congratulate themselves on what little progress we Negroes have made. I’m sure that most whites felt with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, all race problems were automatically solved. Because most white people are so far removed from the life of the average Negro, there has been little to challenge this assumption. Yet Negroes continue to live with racism every day. In
Cover of Hip Hop and Comics
Cover or Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”
Cover of Anna Burns’ Milkman
Lug: “THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA TELL ME THE MONKEY MEAT COMPANY TOOK THE KID.” Karl: “What? NO! SEPARATING CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS? NOT EVEN THE MONKEY MEAT COMPANY IS THAT MONSTROUS!”
Dear Hall County Board of Commissioners: I am writing, as a resident of Georgia and specifically Northeast Georgia's Ninth Congressional District, to ask you not to move forward with the proposed ICE detention center in Flowery Branch/ Oakwood. While I agree that we need sensible immigration policies and guidelines, and that previous administrations, from Clinton and Bush to Obama and Biden, have deported large numbers of undocumented immigrants and even separated families, the current administration's blatant disregard for the constitution and bloated budgetary allocations to ICE (which provided it with a. 265% increase, made it 62% higher than the budget for the federal prison system, and higher than the military budgets of Israel, Italy, and other nations) warrants standing up and speaking out.
I want to end on this, because I think it is the most important moment of the concert. Armstrong never mentioned Trump or any politician. Instead, he asked us what type of nation we want. During "Holiday," another anti-war song critical of the War on Terror, Armstrong asked the crowd, before singng the bridge, whether or not they wanted democracy. He screamed, "Do we want democracy?" The crowd roared back, "Yes!" Next, he screamed, "Do we want fascism?" The crowd erupted into a vociferous "NO!" He asked again, "Do we want democracy?" Again, the crowd erupted, "Yes!" Then, he moved into the bridge where he sang, Sieg Heil to the President Gasman Bombs away is your punishment Pulverize the Eiffel Towers Who criticize your government Green Day are punk, and it's no shock they exude punk no matter the scale of the stage.
Near the end of World War II, Adams spoke to a group of U.S. Army officers about "the Nazi faith." These officers would be part of the occupation force in Germany following the war. He described the officers' views at the meeting as "an orgy of self-righteousness," turning around the fact that the United States helped to defeat fascists during the war. This caused them to inflate their ego, feeling superior to the powers they just defeated, condescendingly looking down on them. Writing about this lecture, Adams says that he tried to check their "self-righteousness" because if he didn't he would "succeed only in strengthening the morale of a bumptious hundred-percent 'Americanism'" Adams saw first hand the fervent nationalism in Germany and the violence that ensued. He also saw the striking similarities at home.
Picture of the Eiffel Tower at night
Graphic of 15 books I read in January
Bergen looking up with snow on his chin.
When Liuzzo acquired this knowledge, when she got woke, she was transfigured into a traitor to her race and a menace to The Homeland. For being a menace, for being woke, she was killed - as was Renee Good. (As was Alex Pretti.) But revelations have their blessings too. In this case, a life, however brief, that is clean and does not depend on the oppression and debasement of others. The revelation of deep human ties, the belief that we are all equally chosen, doomed Lluzzo, Good i, and Pretti, as revelation so often does. But it also immortalized them. We cannot be the man who sees the train, with its shades pulled down, and then forget about it. We cannot let the shades separate us from the truth and blind us from reality. We do not have the privilege to carelessly stroll along as if the train we see isn't carrying individuals to concentration camps or their deaths. We cannot maintain our existence by keeping the shades pulled down or our heads
Picture of Scythe boardgam
It is so easy to hate, it is so much harder to understand.—Lillian Smith
Page from Jungle Action 7 of Killmonger throwing T’Challa over Warrior Falls
As Lillian Smith writes; “Even the children know that the [nation] is in trouble.”
King penned "A Testament of Hope" in 1968, only a few years removed from the Civil Rights and the Voting Rights Acts, during the Vietnam war and protests to the United States' militarization, during "urban decay," and during a time of overt white backlash to the progress of the past decade. Throughout, King points out that the issues facing the nation did not arise overnight, they exist "because the tragic evasions and defaults of several centuries have accumulated to disaster proportions." This accumulation, feeding the nation's roots, would not, and will not, end with integration or with superficial gains such as diversity initiatives or political positions. While these are good steps, they do not get at the root issues.
Cover of Scythe tabletop game