Roger O Green

The Great Dying in the Americas after 1492

Unbound

I had heard of the Great Dying in the Americas after 1492. Still, it was a shocking headline in my newsfeed. 56 MILLION. This is the “estimated number of Indigenous Americans killed by violence, famine, and disease due to European colonization from 1492 to 1600. That’s a 90% drop in the Indigenous population – a decline so rapid it caused the earth’s temperature to cool.”.

“We know the story. Or, at least, we think we do: In 1621, a shared feast between Pilgrims and Indigenous Americans in Massachusetts to give thanks for the harvest and survival of Plymouth colonists created a 400-year tradition Americans mark annually.

“Most of us know that tale is, in large measure, a lie…

“That story exists in part to obfuscate the quite bloody reality of how the nation was actually claimed by the colonists who arrived here,” said Julian Brave NoiseCat, a journalist, activist, and advisory board member for The Emancipator.”

When facts such as these are shared, I hear so many non-Indigenous people complain, “Why are they ruining the best holiday?” I understand. Hey, I grew up with the myth as well. It was such an affirming, positive story that one wanted it to be true.

Instead

“So how do Indigenous people in America mark Thanksgiving? The ways are as diverse and complex as the communities themselves. They do mourn the atrocities their ancestors suffered. But Indigenous culture is also firmly rooted in the tradition of giving thanks. They find a way to do both.

“One of NoiseCat’s traditions is attending Sunrise Ceremonies at Alcatraz Island, the Indigenous land that became the now-shuttered prison, to commemorate a 19-month occupation that began in 1969. Bay Area Native American activists sought to reclaim the island under the terms of a 19th-century treaty.”

The article is from Unbound, a newsletter from The Emancipator, published by the Boston Globe. In each issue, “Kimberly Atkins Stohr, senior columnist for The Emancipator and The Boston Globe, explores past to present-day themes centered on antiracism and democracy.” She examines “some of the most urgent conversations on racial justice infused with context, news, and perspective.

The statistical citation is from Quarternary Science Reviews’ 2019 study Earth system impacts of the European arrival and Great Dying in the Americas after 1492 by Alexander Koch, Chris Brierley, Mark M. Maslin and Simon L. Lewis. You can hear Koch on the Last Born In The Wilderness podcast.

Favorite topics: history, books, movies, music

100 $100 bills;

Another Sunday Stealing meme. This one concerns some of my favorite topics: history, books, movies, and music.

What period of history is your favorite to read about?

“Favorite” may be stretching it, but it’s the period in American history between the end of the Civil War (1865) and the beginning of the Civil Rights era of the mid-20th Century.

Reconstruction included several black legislators; Jim Crow, which largely undid the progress; the “scientific” rationalization of bigotry; the Red Summer of 1919; the civil rights leaders who were ahead of the curve.

Tomes

What is your favorite genre of fiction?

I like fiction rooted in real events. The only Stephen King book I ever read was 11/22/63.

Do you choose a book by its cover?

Sometimes. Or at least the book jacket. Does this tell me something I didn’t know AND want to find out? Incidentally, it is true: some librarians DO refer to books by their color. “Can you get me that tall green book, please?”

Where do you do most of your reading?

On the sofa, near an end so that I can put one arm up.

Without looking, guess how many books are in your TBR pile. Now, look. Were you right?

Hundreds. Yup, hundreds.

Films

How many movies are on your TBW list?

That’s quite a different calculation. There are tons of movies on various platforms that make the enumeration of the same to be quite impossible. Now, if you’re talking about movies I have on DVD that I have not watched, maybe a half dozen. But I also have lots of unwatched TV episodes and the like.

What’s your favorite genre of movie?

Quite possibly the documentary. Beyond that, comedy.

Do you still go to see movies in the theater?

Yes, but it’s much more difficult. Albany County is currently COVID-red, so my wife is reluctant to go, even though we both got COVID in August.

Moreover, I got out of the routine. When I went regularly, there were a lot of trailers that helped me decide whether or not to see that film in the future. Now, I know there are trailers online, but 1) there are so many that I don’t have the time, and 2) trailers on a computer are not the same dynamically as trailers in a cinema.

BTW, I dislike seeing movies on a computer screen, though I’ve seen several since March 2020. I’m trying to decide if I should get Roku or a newer, larger television set.

Money

You have $10,000 and no strings or obligations for one full day. Where do you go, and what do you do?

Let’s further assume I can’t give it away to a charity, a political campaign, or to random strangers (100 $100 bills; it DOES appeal to me). It can’t be something practical. The one-day limit is a hassle. What I’d LIKE to do is buy out a large theater with at least a 500-person capacity and show a movie that people might want to see on the big screen, such as The Wizard of Oz or Casablanca. But I don’t know if I could pull it off logistically.

Tunes

How many songs are on your favorite playlist?

About 3,753. I don’t know that I have a favorite playlist. The idea of hearing the same songs more than a dozen times a year is alien to me.

What method do you use to listen to music (Spotify, iTunes, Pandora…)?

I play compact discs. In fact, I’m playing the Psychedelic Soul album by The Temptations as I write this. Before that, I listened to Lyle Lovett, Rebecca Jade, Paul Simon, Tom Petty, Weird Al Yankovic, The Beatles, and Television’s Greatest Hits (TV theme songs).

I do have songs on Amazon, but that’s my fallback position.

Most awarded songs #4

“Worry, why do I let myself worry?”

The most awarded songs #4 are more tunes that got awards from the Grammys, the Oscars, Rolling Stone magazine, RIAA, ASCAP, CMA, NPR, et al. in some arcane formula.

120. Ain’t That A Shame – Fats Domino. One of the earliest songs I really loved. It was covered by Cheap Trick and John Lennon. I understand that Chubby Checker of The Twist fame got HIS nickname as a derivative of Fats Domino.

119. Crazy – Patsy Cline. A Willie Nelson song that became so ubiquitous that it was covered by Linda Ronstadt and many others. In 1961 and early 1962, it went to #2 country and adult contemporary, each for two weeks. But it also went to #9 pop.
I did one of these LOST quizzes, even though I didn’t watch the show. “You are Kate. You listen to Patsy Cline anywhere,” which is true. About a decade ago, Parade magazine had a list of Americans’ All-Time Favorite Love Songs, and Crazy by Patsy Cline was there.

118. Summertime Blues – Eddie Cochran. I heard the song first by The Who, on the Live at Leeds album, then Blue Cheer. But this is my favorite.

117. For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield. The trouble with the song is that it became SO overrepresented on any TV show pointing out the strife of the 1960s. It’s on the Forrest Gump soundtrack and countless compilations of the period. It IS a good song, just overplayed.

Could have been a Billboard R and B hit

116. Walk On By – Dionne Warwick. I loved all of those Warwick/Burt Bacharach/Hal David songs. And I got rather irritable when some people thought she wasn’t “black enough.” The song hit number 1 on the Cash Box Rhythm and Blues Chart in June 1964; Billboard did not print rhythm and blues charts during 1964, for reasons.)

115. California Girls – The Beach Boys. Either Brian Wilson wrote this while he was on acid, or afterward when he was sober. It was inspired by the feel of the Drifters’ version of On Broadway or Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, or maybe both. Mike Love was initially left off the credits and had to litigate to fix the situation. I particularly love the intro.

114. Mr. Tambourine Man – the Byrds. Others, such as Peter, Paul, and Mary had covered Bob Dylan before. But the Byrds’ #1 pop version was so transformative that it influenced other artists covering or imitating Dylan. It even changed Bob’s approach to the song.

Goffin/King

113. The Loco-Motion – Little Eva. Eva Boyd was Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s babysitter. When another singer passed on the song, Eva got the chance in 1962. Grand Funk Railroad also reached #1 with it a dozen years later, so The Loco-Motion became the second song to reach No. 1 by two different artists in the US. The previous song to do that was the Goffin/King hit Go Away Little Girl.

112. Heart Of Glass – Blondie. Is it allowed for a rock band to play dance music? “In an interview published in the February 4, 1978, edition of NME, Debbie Harry expressed her affinity for the Euro disco music of Giorgio Moroder, stating that ‘It’s commercial, but it’s good, it says something… that’s the kind of stuff that I want to do.'”

111. Runaround Sue– Dion. I always thought that period of about 1960-1962 was pretty fallow musically. But Dion DiMucci, with and without the Belmonts was an exception.

Vladimir Putin turns 70 and is losing it

and his crony, Tucker Carlson

For months, I’ve been reading speculation that the sanity of Russian president Vladimir Putin is in question. Maybe, as Daily Beast noted back in March 2022: “The more desperately Putin tries to demonstrate his authority ahead of elections in 2024, the more his grip on power may slip away.”

Or is he merely physically ill? Politico, in June 2022, addressed the various rumors, as did Grid.

Regardless, the leader’s recent actions have received severe pushback from the Russian people. His forces continue to lose on the battlefield in Ukraine. Putin announced the mobilization of 300K reservists, many of whom are ill-trained for war. This is the first such conscription since World War II.

But Russian men are fleeing the country to avoid military service. Some are paying nearly $25K for plane tickets. The land exodus is so significant that their neighbors are moving to close the borders. Also, Russian military recruitment offices have come under attack. The Kremlin appears to be in crisis.

Last year on this date, Reporters Without Borders protested to mark not only Putin’s natal day but also the 15th anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya’s murder.

The response

What is the Russian response? Putin granted Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden. Russia is boycotting the 2023 Oscars and won’t submit a Film for the International Feature category.

Then, per the Boston Globe, “Putin has signed treaties to begin the process of absorbing parts of Ukraine into Russia, defying international law. The signing came three days after the completion of Kremlin-orchestrated ‘referendums’ on joining Russia that were dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a bare-faced land grab and based on lies.”

Here’s his BS speech at the “signing of treaties on the accession of Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and Zaporozhye and Kherson regions to Russia.”

Still, Angela Stent writes in Foreign Policy, “The moral and strategic disaster of… Putin’s war in Ukraine has ended his imperial dreams. “

The Swanson heir

What are we to make of the pro-Russia American Right? What are they telling themselves?

Even Dick Morris, with whom I seldom agree, calls FOX News talking head Tucker Carlson’s stance “dangerous.” From Newsmax: “During the Cold War, Soviet apologists would often cite facts and claims from Pravda as if they were really true. Today, Carlson recites Russian talking points with the same sort of zeal.

“Putin really likes Carlson for doing so. Newsweek reported that Carlson’s Fox video from [a couple of weeks ago] is even being shown on Russian state media to bolster Putin’s war efforts.”

May Vladimir Putin have some bad borscht for his birthday.

Break-up, baseball, and JEOPARDY

Lake George

Here are some Ask Roger Anything questions about break-up, baseball, and JEOPARDY. They were asked by Kelly Sedinger, the fine Buffalo-area blogger at ForgottenStars.net.

When the break-up finally comes, does New York form a country with, say, NJ and New England and maybe PA, MD, and DE? Or do we all just join Canada?

First, I do accept the premise of the question. Major Garrett, formerly of FOX and now CBS, wrote a book suggesting that America is close to Civil War. But I remain puzzled by the mechanism.

As someone in upstate New York, you KNOW there are pockets of conservatives in New York, such as the Southern Tier south of you, or much of the territory north of me, which are quite conservative. Conversely, there are liberal enclaves in Iowa.

The Greater Idaho movement, with much of eastern Oregon joining the spud state, will be difficult to achieve. Redistributing assets nationally would be a nightmare.

Still, rhetorically speaking, your larger model works. And the Canadians, if they are smart, will want to have nothing to do with a land annexation. They don’t want those gun-toting folks in their jurisdiction.

Here comes the Judge

Am I crazy in detecting a rather unsavory note in all the cheering of Aaron Judge this season as he chases home run records? Because it really does occasionally take on a tone of “Thank God a white guy is posing a threat to the record held by the black guy nobody likes.”

I can say that Barry Bonds was very supportive of Judge’s pursuit of the American League record of 61 (Roger Maris, 1961) and understood the stress of getting that 61st one. Days before the regular season ended, it was pretty clear that Judge wouldn’t surpass Bonds’ 73 HRs.

But I think your question hit on the real issue. Barry Bonds is just not warm and fuzzy. And people feel that he cheated with the Performance-Enhancing Drugs. So I don’t think it’s specifically racism, although I don’t listen to sports talk on radio or TV because I find much of it repetitive and banal.

Now some people didn’t want Henry Aaron to topple Babe Ruth’s career record of 714, even sending death threats. (When I saw a guy on the field running with Hammerin’ Hank, I was genuinely worried about the slugger’s safety.) But many people think Bonds’ career record of 762 is tainted and that it should belong to Aaron, with 755.

Favorite place within 50 miles of Albany?

I’m fond of Lake George, north of here. The lake itself is quite beautiful, and it has several amenities without being TOO touristy.

Unchange

A change you would make to JEOPARDY!? (Resurrecting Trebek is not an option.)

Actually, my wish can never happen because it seems to be too popular with the fans. I’d prefer that they stayed with five-day champions, and then they’re gone until the annual Tournament of Champions. The interview segment is fine for someone staying for a week, but most of them start to wear on me.

I don’t want to see the same people in yet another tournament. They had that awful team event a few years ago. Besides seeing Ken and Brad yet AGAIN in competition, it took away time when we might see your average champion. They seem to be keying on the “super champions,” which just doesn’t feel right. At least Ken Jennings and Buzzy Cohen, as hosts of the show, can no longer compete on the show because they’ve hosted.

Oh, and I’m against giving a bonus to people who run a category. Former JEOPARDY champ Austin Rogers makes a case for it, but I remain unconvinced.

Oh, and here’s something that Trebek used to say that I never liked, and I recently heard Jennings repeat. When all three contestants missed the same question, Alex would say, “No harm, no foul.” It’s not correct. If Player A has $12,000, Player B has $6,000, and Player C has $3,000, and they all miss a $2,000 question, who is most disadvantaged? The person with the least amount of money.