Southern Bookman

All of those books in a lifetime of reading

Whenever I finish a book, I wish I knew how many I've completed in a lifetime of reading.

A few books stand out: Kerry the Firedog, another early picture book about a truck delivering coal, Alice and Jerry's adventures revealing the wonders of language in my first grade class taught by Miss Coates, whom I still remember. The Golden Books, with their distinctive gold-leaf binding, opened a world of enchantment.

My youth was filled with the Hardy Boys, Chip Hilton and the Western novels of Zane Gray. Our mother took us for summertime visits to the air-conditioned bookmobile, where I checked out stacks of baseball, football, golf and boxing histories.

I also loved a series of biographies about famous Americans in their youths, such as "Ernie Pyle, Young Reporter." My favorites were lives of Lou Gehrig, Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin.

Carlos Baker's early biography of Ernest Hemingway stands out as one of the first "serious" books I finished. From there, I discovered Hemingway's novels and short stories, F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and "Tender Is the Night," Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" and James Joyce's "The Dead." I also fell under the spell of J.D. Salinger's short stories and Glass Family saga and James Joyce's "The Dead."

William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" and short stories were a major touchstone of my reading life.

From my college years, I treasure the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volumes 1 and 2, to which I often return. For years, I consulted my college Webster's dictionary, although it lacked a few contemporary words. In recent years, I've gone to the Internet for definitions.

In college, I began a lifetime passion for the poems of Keats, Eliot and Donne and the poems and plays of Shakespeare.

Sometimes the titles on my bookshelves look like tombstones. I wonder why I'd ever acquired some of my more esoteric titles. Reading often seems futile these days. But it's as essential to me as breathing.

I'll keep reading until I finish my final book.

 

 

 

 

Returning to Mountain Way

I returned to Mountain Way Wednesday for the longest walk I've taken since undergoing knee surgery in early summer.

On a gorgeous autumn afternoon, my wife and I headed back to one of our favorite walking paths near our home.

Mountain Way, which runs off Wieuca Road, is a quiet street that has registered many changes in Buckhead through the years: housing construction booms and busts, politics, neighborhood preservation and improvements.

Bordered by Little Nancy Creek, Mountain Way passes through a valley between two ridges. When we first moved into the neighborhood, the road as its name suggested was a rustic preserve of trees and wildflowers in the middle of Atlanta. Then after years of neighborhood opposition, Ga. 400 tore through the area, desecrating Mountain Way's beauty with a towering overpass, massive supporting columns and a sloping concrete embankment.

In recent years, civic leaders have sought to heal the wound by developing Mountain Way Common. The not yet completed park offers sidewalks and decorative planters, a walking trail along Little Nancy Creek leading to a pedestrian bridge and a sculptured swing beneath the overpass.

Decorative picnic tables have been set up in a vacant lot across from the park, and Livable Buckhead installed beehives and flowers.

Mountain contains an interesting mix of futuristic homes, 1950s ranches and one remaining rustic cabin from the days when the area was a weekend getaway for wealthy Atlantans. At a huge LA-styled home where construction was halted for years, joyful workers completed a driveway. We wondered if the huge home would at last be finished for someone to live there.

Sitting on the bright red swing designed by artist Robert Proctor, we heard MARTA trains and cars pass by high above us. New beauty rises from the ruins of the past. After a few reflective moments, we headed for home.

 

Diane Arbus retrospective recalls viewing at New Orleans Museum of Art 50 years ago

A new Diane Arbus exhibit in New York City re-creates the Museum of Modern Art's posthumous showing of the photographer's work 50 yeas ago.

Reading about the Arbus retrospective at David Zwirner's West 20th Street Gallery in Chelsea, I recalled one of the most exhilarating art experiences I've had: seeing Arbus' photos at the New Orleans Museum of Art in the early 1970s. 

That was the same exhibit that shocked and thrilled crowds at MOMA in 1972. Arbus, who committed suicide in 1971, produced portraits of giants, dwarfs, sex workers, young couples, cross-dressers and twins.

Her brother, the poet Howard Nemerov, said her subjects were "freaks, professional travestites, strong men, tattooed men, the children of the very rich," according to a review of the Zwirner exhibit by the Washington Post's Sebastian Smee.

Arbus' photos of her "freaks" were shocking, yet revealed the humanity of those shunned by mainstream society. Shot in somber black and white, with dark gray tones, the photos captured her subjects' expressive eyes, illuminating their inner souls. 

On that sunny day 50 years ago, I staggered out of the New Orleans art museum, as if swept by a giant wave, a "Cataclysm," as the Zwirner exhibit is titled.                                                                                             

 

 

 

Celebrating 41 years of marriage

Beautiful fall weather, as on the day 41 years ago when my wife and I married at Atlanta's Christ the King Cathedral.

So many who were present at our wedding are no longer with us. Nieces who were children have grown up and had children of their own. Our children are successful adults.

Our wedding began our life in Atlanta, which has undergone tremendous change in our time here.

We have watched generations of Braves, Hawks and Falcons players come and go. Our children advanced through Atlanta public schools from kindergarten to high school, then graduated from college and started careers. Holidays and seasons flew by.

Over the years, I lost old friends, who shared my love for music and books. I often stop and think about them, as the old Beatles song said.

On our anniversary, I remember the good times.

 

 

 

Paul Krugman sees the credibility gap of Jerome Powell, Vladimir Putin

The New York Times' Paul Krugman in a strange column Friday compared Fed Chairman Jerome Powell with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Krugman averred that Powell and Putin both seek to maintain "credibility" with their recent actions. Powell's Fed is raising interest rates to stop inflation, even if that causes a recession. Putin called for a troop mobilization after recent losses in Ukraine.

While Krugman expressed opposition to the Fed's rate increases because they could bring needless economic pain, he justified the action because of the Fed's need for the C-word.

I don't possess much economics expertise outside of reading Krugman, but my gut reaction was to think who cares about the Fed's "credibility" when thousands lose their jobs? An extended recession won't help Powell's credibility.

According to Krugman, Putin seeks credibility as the overwhelmed Russian army's Ukraine invasion fails. Curiously ignoring Putin's recent threat to use nuclear weapons, Krugman predicted that the Russian leader's forced roundup of more troops will end up badly. Putin's seizing of civilians to serve as cannon fodder in Ukraine set off massive opposition, with many would-be conscripts fleeing Russia. I didn't realize it was so easy to leave.

If Krugman's analysis is correct, it's distressing that leaders like Powell and Putin mainly seek credibility when human lives are at stake.

 

 

Ben Fong-Torres set standard for American rock criticism, Netflix documentary shows

Ben Fong-Torres defined Rolling Stone magazine's pioneering rock-music coverage.

The Netflix documentary "Like a Rolling Stone: the Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres" reveals the writer and editor's essential contributions to the magazine's early years.

While Hunter S. Thompson and Timothy Crouse pushed the boundaries of political coverage for the magazine, Fong-Torres set the standard for the new field of rock music criticism. Along with his innovative interviews, feature stories and reviews, Fong-Torres as the magazine's music editor shaped other writers' work. 

Lester Bangs gave Jann Wenner's counterculture magazine a druggy hip persona. Fong-Torres' incisive writing and revelations of rock stars' inner personalities exhibited the authority of serious journalism. Fong-Torres' pieces helped make Rolliing Stone a national bible for a new rebellious generation.

Fong-Torres frequently worked with photographer Annie Leibowitz. In an endearing reunion with Leibowitz, Fong-Torres recalls how they invented their innovative techniques on the fly.

Interviews with rock stars like Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, singer Country Joe McDonald and Grateful Dead vocalist Bob Weir indicate that Fong-Torres was trusted by the musicians, although he had a strong reputation for honest criticism. Wenner in an interview recalls that Fong-Torres resisted the rock world's destructive drug use.

Audio excerpts from Fong-Torres' taped interviews with stars like Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Stevie Wonder show how he got them to reveal their hopes and  vulnerabilities.

The son of Chinese immigrants, Fong-Torres gained his work ethic carrying out thankless tasks in his father's struggling restaurants in Oakland and San Francisco, with a brief sojourn to Amarillo, Texas. Pop radio offered visions of a different world.

Discovering his passion for journalism while covering the student protest movement as the editor of San Francisco State's newspaper, he left a job as the editor of a phone company magazine to take a chance on Wenner's venture, launched with legendary San Francisco writer Ralph Gleason.

An earnest Chinese American with long hair and glasses, Fong-Torres defined the magazine's music writing. While popular musicians gave the magazine credibility, Fong-Torres' work also established the careers of groups like Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Doors and the Jefferson Airplane. He recalls giving renewed attention to Ray Charles, whose music was underappreciated by the rock generation.

While working at Rolling Stone, Fong-Torres also got involved in covering discrimination against Chinese Americans and gang conflicts in San Francisco's Chinatown. Fong-Torres' brother, an anti-gang activist, was mysteriously murdered, a devastating tragedy.

Fong-Torres refused to leave the Bay Area when Wenner moved Rolling Stone to New York City. After a few years contributing to Rolling Stone from the West Coast, he built a career as a freelance writer for Parade magazine and other publications and as a public speaker and community activist.

While he's a respected community leader who now looks like a distinguished professor or successful businessman, Fong-Torres still loves the music. He's shown reuniting with Elton John before a concert on John's current tour.

Fong-Torres is known for his impersonation of Bob Dylan, alluded to in the film's title. He's the Dylan of rock critics.

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Aaron Judge's special season recalls Roger Maris' quest to break Babe Ruth's home run record

Yankees star Aaron Judge's 60-home run quest this summer brought back memories of Roger Maris' epic 1961 season, in which he hit 61 home runs to break Babe Ruth's hallowed 1927 record of 60.

Judge, a Yankees right fielder like Maris and Ruth, smashed his 60th home run Tuesday night. Also leading the American League in batting average and runs batted in, Judge looks likely to win the Triple Crown, which would make him the most valuable player favorite over the Angels' Shohei Ohtani.

Leading off the ninth inning Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Judge hit a sinker from right-hander Wil Crowe 430 feet into the left field bleachers, before Giancarlos Stanton's grand slam finished a five-run rally and a 9-8 Yankees win. Judge made a brief curtain call. Now he takes aim at Maris' American League record of 61 home runs.

A national obsession, Maris' pursuit of Ruth's record was one of my first fully aware sports memories.

At age 10, I was one of the few passionate Yankees fans in southern Louisiana. Maris' famous teammate Mickey Mantle was my second-favorite player behind Willie Mays, and my father brought me Yankees memorabilia from his frequent business trips to New York City.

I still have miniature Hillerich & Bradsby Louisville slugger bats signed by Mantle and Maris, and a baseball autographed by the entire team. "Larry Berra" was Yogi's signature.

Mantle matched Maris' pursuit of Ruth for much of the season, until he was sidelined by one of his frequent injuries and finished with 54 home runs. Maris kept going, at last surpassing Ruth's record in 162nd final game of the season.

Judge reached the 60 home run club in the 147th game of the season, while Ruth set his record in the 1927 season's concluding 154th game. Maris needed 159 games to reach the 60-home run mark. Because of major league expansion in 1961, the schedule was extended.

Barry Bonds holds the major league record of 73 home runs, breaking earlier records set by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. All three of the National League sluggers were accused of steriods use, tainting their records. Many will consider Judge the true home run champion if he breaks Maris' American League record.

Judge's extraordinary summer brings back my youthful innocence, when I was dazzled by Maris and Mantle's heroic pursuit of the Babe.

 

 

Georgia GOP landslide predicted in AJC poll

Georgia's Democratic surge is already crashing, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll.

Incumbent U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, in a statistical dead heat with GOP challenger Herschel "I'm Not That Smart" Walker, is the only Democrat running a competitive campaign, according to the poll of likely voters.

Particularly shocking is  GOP incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp drawing 50 percent support against challenger Stacey Abrams, enough of an edge to avoid a runoff.

The rest of the Democratic ticket falls far behind GOP candidates, most of them incumbents.

In a ray of sunshine for Democrats, the poll shows 20 percent undecided voters in each race. That gives the Democratic candidates hope of cutting into the GOP's commanding leads by their stands on hot-button issues like abortion.

And the poll is of "likely voters," however that's defined. Abrams and other Democrats want to appeal to "unlikely voters," those who don't regularly cast their ballots.

The Democrats turned Georgia blue in the 2020 election, sweeping the presidential and U.S. Senate elections.

If the AJC poll proves accurate, that blue will be disappearing ink.

Washington Post stops publishing its landmark Outlook section

The Washington Post on Sunday published its Outlook section for the last time, ending after 68 years a centerpiece of the newspaper's rise to greatness.

Conceived by then publisher Philip Graham as the "brains" section, Outlook began on Dec. 19, 1954, offering commentary, opinion pieces and essays by a range of writers, many of them newly discovered.

In a Sunday valedictory to Outlook, former editors Robert G. Kaiser and Steve Luxenberg gave a comprehensive retrospective of the section's history and how it paralleled the newspaper's ascendance.

Graham launched Outlook months after the newspaper completed its monumental purchase of the Washington Times-Herald, its only morning competition.

As Kaiser and Luxenberg detail, the Post before acquiring the Times-Herald was far behind the afternoon Washington Star in circulation. The Times-Herald deal doubled the Post's readership and lay the foundation to its eventually overtaking the Star and challenging The New York Times as a national newspaper.

The Outlook section raised the newspaper's reputation for publishing intellectually challenging and entertaining writing. It was a beacon heralding the newspaper's ambitions to broaden the boundaries of daily journalism.

Kaiser and Luxenberg cite Outlook's most consequential commentary, published on June 4, 1967. Post reporter Ward Just after 19 months in Saigon wrote an opinion article that concluded that the Vietnam War "might be unwinnable." Presenting his personal viewpoint based on his reporting without any "on the other hand" assessments, Just exposed the corruption and military incompetence of America's South Vietnamese allies.

Widely read in Washington, Just's bombshell article weakened support for the war. Along with The New York Times' David Halberstam's reporting from Vietnam, Just's piece increased opposition to the U.S. war effort.

As the newspaper's power grew, culminating with its Watergate reporting, it reached an unbelievable 70 percent market penetration in Washington, as Kaiser and Luxenberg note. From a high of 900,000, the newspaper's print circulation has now fallen to fewer than 275,000 readers.

But with more than 3 million online subscribers, the newspaper now owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has embarked upon an ambitious expansion, including new bureaus throughout the world.

The newspaper said that Outlook's articles will now run elsewhere in the print edition, and online.

But in shuttering Outlook, the newspaper has lost a piece of its soul.

 

 

 

 

 

Atlanta landmark Zesto's to close because of failed city crime, homeless policies

I was dismayed at the brief Atlanta Journal-Constitution story Friday announcing that the long-established Zesto's on Piedmont Road will close Sunday.

The Livaditis family, owners of the landmark fast-food restaurant that has served ice cream cones and burgers to generations of families, said that labor shortages and "loitering problems" led to the sale of the site at 2469 Piedmont Road to an undisclosed buyer. The Splash laundromat and Fiesta Foods grocery store were also part of the deal.

That a family with deep roots in Atlanta has to sell a beloved business is shocking. I assume that "loitering issues" mean homeless men badgering customers. The Atlanta police and social service agencies have failed a beloved Atlanta business and its customers.

Zesto's is located in a transitional part of Piedmont with a nondescript mix of fast-food places, bars, strip clubs, convenience stores and car-repair places. Homeless people have set up camps in the area. It's sad that Zesto's will close after years providing dining pleasure because  people no longer feel safe going there. An Atlanta institution is the victim of the city's inability to alleviate homelessness and prevent criminal behavior.

The family last year closed its well-known restaurant on Moreland Avenue in Little Five Points after a tree fell on the building. Two Zesto's remain in the city.

Zesto's is not the only business whose customers feel threatened. In New Orleans, Starbucks announced it will close its location at the corner of St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street because of "security problems," according to the New Orleans Advocate-Times Picayune.

I shook my head in disbelief at the news: Canal Street used to be New Orleans' most prosperous thoroughfare. For years, I took the streetcar down St. Charles to that corner, excited at the swirling crowds as I headed to the nearby French Quarter.

Atlanta and New Orleans have failed as cities if people feel fear rather than joy at public places.