Rise and shine, Cicely!
Here's a heartfelt 'Thanks' to Holling for letting us watch the World Series last night at the Brick. We all know how much he hates sports & would rather we had watched that Jacques Pepin special on PBS instead. (thread on baseball) #NorthernExposure.
If Holling has taught me one thing, it's that 'male bonding' doesn't have to be over a beer and a game on the tube...it can be watching a nature special, or maybe trying to catch a photograph of an elusive Blackpoll warbler...
And yet, there is just something about baseball. As many of you know, my master's thesis was a deconstructionist / post-colonial reading of the Thayer classic 'Casey at the Bat' which I successfully defended on our very own snowy baseball diamond...so yeah, I'm invested.
I am reminded of what Walt Whitman said about baseball...
"Baseball is our game: the American game: I connect it with our national character. Sports take people out of doors, get them filled with oxygen generate some of the brutal customs...
"...We want to go out and howl, swear, run, jump, wrestle, even fight, if only by so doing we may improve the guts of the people.”
Well, last night's game was a vehicle for a different kind of fight-an existential one on a national level, perhaps. It was brief, but it felt real.
I've heard conflicting interpretations of what transpired...some say it was an embarrassment, others that it was justice. I don't know for sure. But to me, it felt like an American expression on that most American of canvases...the baseball diamond.
On this field, you stand at the plate, exposed, for all the world to see. The odds are against you being successful, so you are judged as much for how you take your swings and take your losses. It's as ancient as gladiatorial Rome, thumbs up or thumb's down...
Only instead of Caesar casting his vote last night, it was the collective American voice with the ultimate ruling. And instead of a batter being judged, it was a guy in the stands.
And that judgement was swift.
Walt continues, "America’s game: has the snap, go, fling, of the American atmosphere—belongs as much to our institutions, fits into them as significantly, as our constitutions, laws: is just as important in the sum total of our historic life.” It certainly felt so last night.
I'll wrap up this morning like I concluded my thesis, with a reading of Thayer about ol' Casey:
"Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright,
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light..."
"And somewhere men are laughing, & somewhere children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville, mighty Casey has struck out."
Last night, Casey wasn't at bat, & he didn't even take a swing. He was standing there in the crowd with the bat on his shoulder, incredulous - strike 3.
Uncle Walt said, "...We want to go out and howl, swear, run, jump, wrestle, even fight, if only by so doing we may improve the guts of the people.”
"Improve the guts of the people," indeed.
Spinning this one is for you, big cheese.
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Good morning, Cicely. This is Chris in the Morning on KBHR 57AM. For those of you that stayed up late enough last night for the clouds to break, you were greeted with a spectacular display of ye ol' Aurora Borealis. (thread)
The show will continue tonight and visibility should be excellent, if not a bit chilly. Wear your mukluks if you're heading out there - it'll be -11° F. Ron and Eric tell me that a group is meeting at 9:00 PM out by Eagle Lake to take it all in.
Which reminds me: for our Japanese guests that are here for the show and staying at the Sourdough Inn, "Akachan o tsukuru kōun!" and may all of your children be gifted!
Good morning Cicely. This is Chris in the Morning on KBHR coming at you on a chilly, chilly morning - it's 12 degrees out there, kids! #northernexposure (thread)
As the Holiday Season is upon us, my mind turns to what was once referred to in Old English as 'Christes Masse' - the Festival of Christ. Of course, these days, that holiest of days is less a celebration of the Messiah and more of consumerism...
But you know, who am I to judge? Today's Playstation 5 is yesterday's frankincense and myrrh...
Beyond being a time of anxiously awaiting to see what old St. Nick has stuffed in your stocking, this is also a time of storytelling.
Good morning to you from the 49th state! This is Chris in the Morning on 57AM KBHR coming at you from the Minnifield Communication Network in beautiful downtown Cicely. #northernexposure thread
Billie Holiday - Let's Dream In The Moonlight via @YouTube
I don't know about you guys, but I've become a bit obsessed with politics lately. And it's a bit ironic, of course, because I'm not even allowed to vote. As you may recall, many years ago I spent some time in the State pen back in West Virginny for boosting a '71 Firebird...
...and well, that left me as a sort of persona non grata with respect to election participation. So, like some forbidden fruit, I'm now drawn to the process, perhaps moreso, because of my inability to partake. But despite my inability to cast a vote, I'm not short on opinions.
Hola Cicely,
Chris in the Morning on KBHR 57AM coming at you from the Borough of Arrowhead. It's a nippy 35 degrees out there this morning, but we're going to get up to a positively balmy sunny 55 later on. (thread)
It's #Debates2020 night here in Cicely! Yes, the candidates for mayor are squaring off for the 1st time & the town is buzzing with excitement. For those unfamiliar, mayoral elections have been a hotly contested event since Edna Hancock unseated Holling Vincoeur's long-held reign.
Yes, we have a mayoralty race, folks. To which I can only add, alea jacta est. 'The die is cast', the battle is joined. Hold on to your hats, Cicely. We're about to bear witness to that sacred rite...
Goooooooood morning, Cicely!
It's Chris in the Morning coming at you from the KBHR studio in beautiful downtown Cicely, Alaska - 57AM on the dial. For some reason, I was thinking of karma when I awoke this morning.
Is karma just a disconnected cosmic happenstance, or does it have more to do with principles we all know and understand, like causality? Now, I'm no lawyer, but If we refer to the Brihadaranyaka texts of ancient Hinduism, I think I could make a compelling defense for the latter.
To wit,
"Now as a man is like this or like that,
according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be;
a man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts, bad;
he becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds"
Good Sunday morning, Cicely -
It's a brisk 31 degrees out there this morning so get your java brewing, wrap yourself up in your favorite blanket and set a spell while we watch that big ol' sun rise...#northernexposure (thread)
With these cold nights now descending upon us, the leaves have started their annual fireworks show, and I'm reminded that while we busy ourselves with our lives, our jobs, our little fights and disputes, this blue-green orb we live on is going to just keep turning on its axis...
Now, back in West Virginia, my Uncle Roy Bower used to look up at the stars and planets and the immensity of it all and just get overwhelmed. Maybe this is why he kept ending up in the pokey - the confined space and regimented schedule was more to his liking...