Old Man Trump - Like Father, Like Son

“Stare. It is a way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen, eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.” - Walker Evans

I heard this song this morning. I was familiar with the story, and that is was written by Woody Guthrie.
Lucinda Williams had recently done her own version while on tour. It's gone viral. It's a timeless song, and to me is akin to the classic book of Walker Evans photography and writing of James Agee, that they created during the depression in 1936, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

These folk in the book were far from famous. But this documentation of reality and truth, portrayed the dignity of those down but not defeated. This book was seen as a threat to the status-qou and was stopped from being published for many years.

Those folks who oppress, have a desire not only to oppress, but also to defeat. Woody Guthrie's song and Walker Evans photos and James Agee's portrayal are just as relevant now as in the past. They both point to a kind of back to the future, where  many aspects of the present are historically a repetition of the past. There are numerous parallels and comparisons that can be found between those landowners in places like Alabama, such as Watson Tidmore, and modern day landowners like Donald Trump.

I Ain't Got No Home - Words and Music by Woody Guthrie

I ain't got no home, I'm just a-roamin' 'round,
Just a wandrin' worker, I go from town to town.
And the police make it hard wherever I may go
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.

My brothers and my sisters are stranded on this road,
A hot and dusty road that a million feet have trod;
Rich man took my home and drove me from my door
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.

Was a-farmin' on the shares, and always I was poor;
My crops I lay into the banker's store.
My wife took down and died upon the cabin floor,
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.

I mined in your mines and I gathered in your corn
I been working, mister, since the day I was born
Now I worry all the time like I never did before
'Cause I ain't got no home in this world anymore

Now as I look around, it's mighty plain to see
This world is such a great and a funny place to be;
Oh, the gamblin' man is rich an' the workin' man is poor,
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.

---

© Copyright 1961 (renewed) and 1963 (renewed) by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. & TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)

David Whitford's article entitled The Most Famous Story We Never Told from Fortune Magazine written in 2005 tells the follow up story 69 years later of Frank Tingle, Bud Fields, and Floyd Burroughs families, that Walker Evans and Jame Agee's book in based upon..

What Are You Reading?

One of my advisers in University while I was working toward obtaining my Bachelor of Fine Art degree, said she thought it was essential that artists read and that it influences your art. This was one of the best lessons I've learned going to University and has certainly been my experience throughout my life. The decisions I made in choosing my creative path, the vocations I have had and the subject matter of most of my artwork, is a result of books I have read.. When I think of some of the books that have influenced me, my head is often full of ideas that swim and swirl around in my brain. It can be a little overwhelming. I am not what you call a really well read person and I am not an intellect, and wasn't a very good reader during school. I had some difficulties concentrating and focusing due to a combination of factors. Regardless I have a thirst for knowledge and life long learning and am a much better reader now. There have been several books that have been life changing and have been integrated into my personality, the way I make my art and what I create.

Last Summer I read On Writing by Stephen King, a kind on memoir and ' how to ' book about the process of writing. I am not exactly a reader of most of Stephen Kings books, as I don't really care for fictional thrillers. I do certainly appreciate his talent and his extremely salt of the earth personality. I am very drawn to those kinds of writers.
I also identify with him and his personal demons and difficulties he has struggled with in his life.

Of  course I am interested in the process of writing, being a blogger, who writes everyday, long hand in journals. I have kept journals for many years and have found them to be useful tools that enable my creative process as an artist. It is a great therapeutic tool, particularly when going through the highs and lows of life.

I concur with what many writers say time and time again that in order to improve your writing you need to read. I have made a conscious decision to do this, more so lately, now I have the time to read what ever I like. I also have come to believe, that in order to improve your art making or creativity in general, reading is an essential and powerful tool that will foster, nurture, inspire and transform.

Currently I am reading  I think one of my favourite writers, Anne Lamott's new book STITCHES. Next I will tackle Mavis Gallant's, In Transit, a collection of her short stories.
I just finished Walker Evans and James Agee's book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men which was a rather depressing and hard to get through read. The reason being the subject matter was pretty depressing and the way it was written left me a little frustrated. The photography of course was riveting, and I am so happy and grateful  I actually got to see many of these Walker Evans photos when I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Modern Art. The experience of seeing these black and white photographs took my breath away.

Here's a great list I found today to feed your hungry book brain  http://yougottareadthis.tumblr.com/
I will never be an e-book reader because I love how a book can engage all of my senses. So what are you reading?

A Moveable Feast - Running From Crazy

I finished A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway this week, and happily returned it to the library. It wasn't anything like I thought it would be. I expected it to be full of scenes, situations, and conversations among writers, and artists in Paris, during the 1930s. It was rather dull, and full of descriptions of drunken episodes, and I really don't remember a whole lot else about it except his friendships with Gertrude Stein, and Scott Fitzgerald. As well, the description of how he lived so poorly in Paris with his wife.
 Perhaps my expectations were just a little unrealistic.
That said , I don't doubt Ernest Hemingway's creative ability to write, after all he did recieve a Noble Prize for Literature, and the Pulizer Prize for Fiction. He was indeed a very creative man, and I think especially, when he was sober and well.

 Being a recovering alcoholic myself, I found as was reading his book, I was becoming preoccupied with how many times Hemingway talked about drinking, and what he was drinking, in each chapter, and page. I was beginning to think I was counting the times booze was mentioned, like the way a family member of the alcoholic is always preoccupied with how much the alcoholic is drinking. This is due to my own past obsession with booze, and other people's drinking, which I often take note of. It's why I became a member of Al-Anon in 1988, I was addicted to the alcoholics in my life.

 Truthfully, I didn't find the writing in A Moveable Feast engaging. It impressed me as being disjointed, perhaps because it was a sketchy memoir, that was put together three years after his death.

 I'm certain his writing was affected by his alcoholism, his bi-polar mental illness, and his experience in the war, which I'm certain left him with post traumatic stress.

Hemingway interests me more as a person, than as a writer, not in spite of his troubles, but because of them.
I will attempt to read another one of his books in the future, but in the meanwhile, I'll finish off my books by Eudora Welty and Walker Evans and James Agee, Now Let Us Praise Famous Men.

Today I listened to an interview with Ernest Hemingway's granddaughter, Mariel Hemingway ,which was very interesting and very hopeful. A testament to how we can change our lives. I am very happy that she has been able to turn things around, and breaking that cycle of illness and addiction by speaking out.
 I hope I the chance to see her film, Running From Crazy.