Must have been the shot of that puppy. Perhaps the touching togetherness of man and dog.
13 women out of 13 women (13 out of 17 commenters) love our James for his last post Georgie Puppy's Father's day.
They surely haven't read it!
Where the hell is Amy, when you need her so badly?
Exercise 1 my dear lady friends of Open Salon
Copy the text of James' last post to your text processor and cut the pictures.
Please cut the pictures, because they put you on the wrong track.
OK, what do you read now?
There it is: because of his father being in the factory, Obama has not learnt not to send drones to Afpak wedding parties.
I guess, his mum forgot to tell him.
As we can hear from Robert Bly!
The post industrial revolution syndrome of men.
Do I have to continue?
Iraq?
Or, still post industrial revolution kids: Vietnam?
I'm glad I have a European example, because I don't want a fight with you, my dear lady-friends of Open Salon.
In post industrial revolution Germany, before the war, a lot of men were unemployed. They could have been at home to teach their kids the real male values.
But they preferred to go behind Hitler and his gang.
What does that mean: post industrial revolution. Certainly not what Bly thinks. You had centers, the surroundings of cities, where you could meet post industrial revolution characteristics.
That was it. That was all.
Most of the men still around home.
And when men worked en masse in factories and offices: there came feminism. And the women left the house too, starting the generation of latchkey children.
Ever read Annie Proulx’ CLOSE RANGE Wyoming Stories? If you want to meet some men, living in our days but certainly not touched by the industrial revolution circumstances, go and read her stories.
Heinrich Böll, a German writer, has written Haus ohne Hüter, translated as House without Guardians.
It's about the years after the second World War. A lot of families grow up without a father, who didn't return from the battlefields.
Since that time, we in Holland have never had problems with our neighbors.
As Gandhi said of western civilization, that would be a good idea - bildung ohne Väter (upbringing without fathers).
Want to know about my post industrial revolution education.
I had to help my father in the garden, spent a lot of time with him. I worked in my free time for the baker, me and the baker side by side in the bakery. I spent my holidays at the fields: harvesting this and that, always surrounded by men.
I had five (5!) sisters. I can't recall a single moment in my education that I was alone with one of them to learn about life.
At school? Always instructed by male teachers.
(Sorry, some girl - not a mature woman - did the kindergarten.)
Where's Amy?
She published once a post telling us about 10 different surveys on 10 different activities, which told us that women are better than men. (I can't find the post anymore, I think she has deleted it.) I don't believe in that kind of research, but it is an encouraging misbelief for those women who do not want to be blamed for all the misery of the twentieth century.
Exercise 2 my dear ladies.
America has Robert Bly.
Germany has Günter Grass.
Günter Grass wrote Der Butt. Title of the English translation: The Flounder. The book tells a story about an artist, his chat with the flounder, and his nine (9) cooking women. The story runs from prehistoric times until 1970.
It's also about myth and man. Just a bit different from Bly.
Go to the shop, buy it, and read it.
(I have to say: I looked in vain for these two German novelists, Böll and Grass, when I visited the library of my dear friend James.)
Yes, I know: American men like a visit now and then to the psychotherapist. Small wonder that the book of Robert Bly was an immense success: 62 weeks on the NYT Best Seller list.
No, wait, I have a better idea.
Exercise 2.1 dear ladies.
Every one of you takes a turn in reading to James a chapter of The Flounder, every evening before he goes to bed.
(Don't forget to give him a good-night kiss before you leave.)
Why?
Because he has to know that he must dump that Ayatollah, the Ecclesiast Bly, these reprehensible views on men and education.
He must know ... in order to prevent possible damage in the relationship with his sisters.
I know, I can tell him. He will listen, he's my friend.
But it's your task. You are the victim here.
Besides: I am a man. Education and men, pre or post industrial revolution: a non-starter.
Exercise 3 my dear ladies.
This is my open call.
Where the hell is Safe_Bet's Army? Where are all those self-assured, assertive, independent women of Open Salon.
So, make yourself heard.
Write an essay.
Teach that Bly dude a lesson or two.
And don't forget to include "your own men" Thatcher and Merkel.
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markinjapan
Chicago Guy
Ande Bliss
Jan Sand
Safe_Bet's Amy
zumalicious
Salon.com
Comments
r.
experience on the road from Damascus.
Damascus, Utah, that is...
Artemis appeared to her.
Brought her up to roam with the bears for a time,
in mythological space....
"Flounder" boy Grass
wrote
"
I shall speak of … how melancholy and utopia
preclude one another.
How they fertilize one another …
Of the revulsion that follows one insight
and precedes the next …
Of superabundance and surfeit.
Of stasis and progress.
And of myself,
for whom melancholy and utopia are heads and tails
of the same coin.
"On Stasis and Progress"' in Diary of a Snail (1972)
.........................................................
he sounds a bit too european for my taste.
very gloomy and intense.
i am a big happy sunburned jolly american these days.
ever since my time on the beach. near the sea.
and the bikinis.
i love mankind.
sure, i am still revulsed by my every thought,
but i come up with a new one. the next minute.
that is the american way. progress!!
.....................
don't tell the women to cut the pictures out.
the pictures, uh, add subtle meanings and context, etc.
the art i make? it is a word PLUS image art.
you cannot disconnect the two...
oh by the way...your fussy friend grass said
Even bad books are books, and therefore sacred.
The Tin Drum Book 1, "Rasputin and the Alphabet" (1959),
Excuse me, but isn't a "puttana" a tart?
I miss Amy's directness and her moxie.
All mus-slinging aside, I think she helps keep this place a lot more lively.
My guess is she'll be back when she calms down and, if we get lucky, jumps away from a couple of conclusions.
'You had centers, the surroundings of cities,
where you could meet
post industrial revolution characteristics.
That was it. That was all.
Most of the men still around home.
And when men worked en masse
in factories and offices: there came feminism"
AHA. well, i agree as far as i understand.
but bly would too.
don't disrespect our bly.
he knows his stuff.
"When a father, absent during the day, returns home at six, his children receive only his temperament, not his teaching"
feminism is fine. women wanting equality with men.
i don't know why they would want THAT, except of course
in monetary ways...
oh sir i must object! " that Ayatollah, the Ecclesiast Bly, these reprehensible views on men and education.'
WHAT, like:'By the time a man is 35 he knows that the images of the right man, the tough man, the true man which he received in high school do not work in life.'
or
My heart is a calm potato by day, and a weeping
Abandoned woman by night. Friend, tell me what to do,
Since I am a man in love with the setting stars.
is "newbe" (or "newby" or God knows what you're trying to say with your slang) a disqualification?
don't you recognize figurative speaking?
yes, I'm not a native speaker, so perhaps you can tell me what you want to say in straight English.
thank you!
Yes, you're right. Puttana stands for whore.
Knowing this, do you still want to know how to cook a really good spaghetti alla puttanesca?
It doesn't need a puttana to prepare a really good meal!
I read your comment on James' post.
No misunderstanding: no problem at all!
But the recipe has to be earned!
Now, reading your posts - I liked to read about the musical gifts of your old man - it seems to me no problem to you to say something about Bly and his theory.
So, do as I asked you: cut the pictures and read the words.
Tell me what you think about the nature of his thinking.
I'm eager to learn, Eljekar
thanks for coming to my little place, but I didn't get your point.
thanks for visiting my place.
My point isn't the return of Safe_Bet's Amy (well actually, I liked her voice) ... my point is the attitude of OS-women regarding the view of Bly.
I don't care much. It's just signalling that someone is twisting something ... and no one seems to care.
(you might want to correct your blog title to be "Amy" not "Army")
I like your point of view.
Yes, I liked her voice too.
But that's not my subject.
Still, I like to think:
had there been 1000 Amy's around the palaces of Hussein
had there been 10.000 Amy's around Washington
... perhaps, maybe perhaps, a lot of these dead Iraqis were still alife,
and most of those dead American soldiers too.
I agree, sentimental thinking ... and yet ...
it beats me that you don't understand that "army" is not a mistake ... well, there are a lot of things these days that I'm not quite able to get to grips with ...
so you no longer comment back? on yr own blog?
ah then i shall flog thee .. :)
i will give you a triple quote of bly is what i shall do..
"We make the path by walking."
"... where a man's wound is, that is where his genius will be."
"As I've gotten older, I find I am able to be nourished more by sorrow and to distinguish it from depression."
now that is a skill.
as for depression, let us get some gals at yr place, with
elegant arms
and slender hands
that flap and fly
as they speak their girlish minds...they will drink...
we will drink in the wisdom of the Eternal Feminine, you and i.
that is a plan, boyo.
ciao ciao dear pal.
Since Bly's theories were not of interest to me, I certainly don't have enough to do a post. And, who knows, perhaps there is much more to it... I am open minded, Eljekar, should you care to say more.
Nice call to arms!
And for the record, I do believe we would have much less warfare if women ruled!
r./
the last thing I could do - no, actually, I never can - is forget you!
But some comments have to be done first, so you can concentrate on others.
Yours, my dear friend is one I want to be very concentrated.
you say
"believe that what needs to be taught are universal values
such as compassion, integrity,
a good work ethic, and such.
Those values can be taught by men or women,
so long as they are genuine."
well yeah but...
but...oh how to say it w/o controversy?
a boy kinda sort of needs a man, any man, some damn man.
cuz? he gonna go out into the big bad world
fulla men. and he GOTTA know how
to...act...
to move his hands..to talk..to josh...to yell...to fight! if it comes
to it, which,alas,often it does, sorry to say.
a man is not something that can be simply ....exchanged...
for a good ethical upbringing by a fine woman..
which also is essential...
both are. .both!
is that so hard a pill to swallow?
@el...dont waste too much time studying my nonsense,sir.
You have hit the nail. To fight... yes, James. That is "taught" also. Should it be on the curriculum? I'm not sure, myself. I am open to your thoughts.
Hardly the guiding force for an enlightened man, in my humble opinion, those groups, but if they bring those guys some happiness, okay.
As Mr. Emmerling's thoughts and posts confuse me in general, while I find some charm in (some of) his words, I tend not to get involved over there on his page too often, so I missed this post you refer to.
I also don't fall for puppy/kitten/baby photos often, they lack the cooing and petting quality, not to mention 'life,' that makes puppies, etc. so cute in the first place....just to add a sentence that's neither here nor there....
What was the point? : )
What do you think of Grass' reverses of melancholy and Utopia?
Do you really know what's behind bikini's?
Familiar with the phrase "answered prayers"?
Heh heh, now I know the American model of progress, at least the model of progress of an American: loving mankind, being revulsed, eagerly looking for a better idea. Wooooow!
I suppose Bly had a father who didn't like family life. I know a lot of fathers who do not show their temperament, who can refrain from teaching, and just chat a bit with their kids.
An anomalous situation, you think?
I love your resistance against the Ayatollah, the Ecclesiast. I did expect so. Provocative thinking. So, there's work for you to do my man: tell me why. Whenever someone speaks to me about a demigod I start wondering!
Let's raise the glasses, lets drink to a man's wound ...
... yes, I'm glad your heart is calm potato while at the same time you are in love with the setting stars - what a strange but firm alliance: potatoes and the stars!
Violence is the last resort of a soul spiraling down to an early doom.
Still, we don’t want a bright kiddo getting massacred for his mascara, or his good report card, or whatever life choices he makes, eh? I dunno………………
okay, not a post
but the question included was: what about "your own men" - like Thatcher.
Less warfare?
Do you really know what's behind bikini's?
Behind bikinis are simply female breasts, in all shapes and sizes.
That ‘simply’ is hardly simply. One must approach the bikini clad gal in a state of eternity, total HERENOW, if the prospect of the unsnapping of the cumbersome garment is possible..
loving mankind, being revulsed, eagerly looking for a better idea. Wooooow!
Well, that is kinda grass-ian?!
a lot of men just work, and come home, and eat, and screw, and eat, and get up the next day, utterly exhausted after 20 yrs o f it. and they are the good dads! THE ONES WHO HAVE A JOB TO SUPPORT THE FAMILY. America. Work. Work.
Let's raise the glasses, lets drink to a man's wound ...
Oh boy, hope you got enough beer for all my damn wounds. It is tough being a man over here. They expect you to fly like an eagle whilst being chained to the floor. America.
I wonder: do you like baked potatos? I prefer French fries myself.
and you answered it perfectly, James
... a lot of men just work, and come home, and eat, and screw, and eat, and get up the next day, utterly exhausted after 20 yrs of it.
Freedom's just another word for nothing left to loose! (Joplin)
So, again, what has a man to loose when he wants to look behind/in the envelope?
I say: thinking of Utopia in a melancholic way is like wanting to know what's behind a bikini. You are confusing a want for knowledge of reality with lust.
I know better points of departure.
And yes, I like baked potatoes, as well as French fries.
what is this, now, friend?
, “what has a man to lose when he wants to look behind/in the envelope?
I say: thinking of Utopia in a melancholic way
is like wanting to know what's behind a bikini.
You are confusing a want for knowledge of reality
with lust.
I know better points of departure.”
There is no better point of departure than EROS. In any form. The lust for the bikini unveiling? It is a step on the PLATONIC (ha) stepladder to the Idea of Beauty and the Good.
Knowledge of ultimate reality is thru the senses.
There is no knowledge that does not begin with the human body.
Ah time for my demi god whitehead to shush you.
“Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude
we are surrounded by possibilities that are infinite,
and the purpose of human life is to grasp as much as we can out of the infinitude.”
Ninety percent of our lives is governed by emotion.
Our brains merely register and act upon what is telegraphed to them
by our bodily experience.
Intellect is to emotion
as our clothes are to our bodies; we could not very well have civilized life without clothes,
but we would be in a poor way if we had only clothes without bodies.”
Oh and by the way:
“Philosophy is the self-correction by consciousness of its own initial excess of subjectivity. Each actual occasion contributes to the circumstances of its origin additional formative elements deepening its own peculiar individuality.
And of course….
Haw:” The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
I read earlier because I'm at a loss.
To savor these reads in quiet is best.
`
`
I can tell if I am sharing my web site.
I let pass much. I remain calm/mute.
`
I shut the snooped gadget off. I pissed?
I resent- deceit, fakes, cheats, lies, wars,
and behavior that leads to pain/suffering.
`
I was hacked . . .
`
Then - positive.
I honestly thing:
as in believe this:
Gleaned from
Kurt Vonnegut
`
We are wrong if we think:
Moment go away, and never
to be seen/experienced again.
This moment and every moment
last forever. Kurt V. paraphrased.
`
S
H
I
T
Shit - Stack high in turret.
That needs one more letter.
I seriously an gonna behave,
and sip/nurse a 'Fat Tire' asap!
`
I read earlier.
I read Amy.
I'm curious.
`
Thoth?
But as I also said, even in our culture every boy goes thru some rite of passage in order to become a man -- or else he remains a boy. And I repeat my charge that Mitt Romney has never had to run the gauntlet, and that is why he remains a boy -- someone without substance or character.
so few speak up at the time someone is being attacked. only in the days and weeks later do they "defend" the person or say how much they like them. where were they when the events were taking place? it is unfortunate that those who said the worse things can't see it for exactly what it was: a spiteful, unnecessary attack.
i have respect for those who stated their opinion in a respectful manner and tried to bring civility back around. unfortunately, they were outnumbered by the brutes.
don't be so sure that you'll see amy around here again. some hurts and betrayals go deep and can't ever be fixed.
thanks for coming to my little place and telling me (some of) your thoughts.
this is how we men feel.
invited to some damn party
and then shown the door:
"where are the self-assured, assertive, independent women? they are elsewhere, another place that they find safer than this site. some have grown tired of the fragile egos and bullying that runs rampant here. "
mmm. huh . wow. i am terribly terribly hurt by all that.
blah is what i say.
you say what, my friend?
he cannot help it!
he is so old..
"I was hacked . . .
`
Then - positive.
I honestly thing:
as in believe this:
Gleaned from
Kurt Vonnegut
`
We are wrong if we think:
Moment go away, and never
to be seen/experienced again.
This moment and every moment
last forever. Kurt V. paraphrased."
vonnegut, another brute.ay.
thank goodness he=dead.
`
today!
uh, "Want to know about my post industrial revolution education."
it was brief.
put it that way.
ha.
nothing prepares a man for his true education: AUTODIDACTISM.
There is no other way.
except in the Schools.
which are not important anymore.