Manipulative language or informative language?

New Yorker "Talk of the Town" writer Hendrick Hertzberg writes about a phenomenon I've been too isolated to discover for myself: the Republican right wing use of the term "Democrat" as an adjective, as in "Democrat party." George Bush apparently uses this term along with the rest of his wingmen and -women.

The idea is to make it sound seamier, coarser, rougher, "rattier" to be a Democrat. To belong to the Democratic Party.

I recently belong to the Independent Party. I am protesting, at least temporarily, the refusal of national Dems to fight hard to get us out of Iraq and try to forestall other explosively dangerous foreign policies of this short-sighted administration - but even more, I'm protesting the Kentucky Democratic Party's lousy leadership choices. I can't be a Democrat right now.

In terms of the right wing manipulation of the "Democrat Party" language, my personal choices are beside the point. I see this deliberately incorrect grammatical usage by Yale- and Harvard- educated elites as a successful manipulative maneuver. By using language in ways that defy the language authoritarians, the present party in power sends messages to its base that are more powerful to that base than the party's actions. The ungrammatical language of the good old boys [sic] keeps them sounding like they are on the side of ordinary folk who chafed at teachers, rules, authorities in general. All the while, the people presently in power are doing all they can to be in ultimate authority over all of us, taking our money in countless ways to enrich themselves and their friends.

Their present tactic: Say "Democrat Party." Say "nuc-u-lar." People won't notice that you are making war against their interests, building debt against their interests, decreasing civil liberties and invading privacy against their interests, creating worldwide hatred of the USA against their interests.

It works. Language is more powerful than actions. Language that carries cultural content and meaning is more hardwired, more directly powerful in our heads than policies, which have to be observed, analyzed, considered.

Language triumphs. I love language. Though I resent its use as a manipulator, I trust that we the people are ornery, prickly, and street-smart enough to resist being manipulated long-term. I trust we'll catch on eventually.

Steve files for Council At Large

 

Steve Kay, my partner in work and life, files to run for an at-large seat on the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council. Eight other people filed for three available seats.
 

Paul's Foreign Auto

I picked up my 1989 Saab from Paul's Foreign Auto today. I felt like one lucky person. Paul's is two and a half blocks from my house. They work on old Saabs, and they work on new Toyotas, like the 2002 Camry that my man drives. They do their work on time, and charge reasonably. I had expected to pay $278 today for a rebuilt battery platform and a new battery after I damaged my old battery by completely depleting it. An accident, of course. Julie called, though, to say "Come get it. It's $178.05." The old battery platform was down inside the car somewhere, so they didn't have to use the the expensive new part. They rebuilt what they had. I bought a seven year battery for my 17 year old car. Why not? Paul's integrity, proximity, and care means I can keep driving my old, old car in town, and keep doing occasional repairs, for a long, long time to come. I hope!

Oh yse. And when I got in the car, two soft peppermints lay in the seat, along with a card offering $10 off my next visit, and $10 off to any person whom I recommend to them. A nice touch - unusual for Paul's, and quite tasty.

And the dove sang at the wedding

Sunday afternoon we walked over to the Bodley-Bullock house, corner of Second and Mill, for a wedding in the garden. The world sang in color, after days (weeks) of grey. Yellow light, blue and white sky above blue and white garden, on a canvas of green boxwood and grass.

After hours in the cool/warm sun, we walked home at the pace of spring, so slowly a neighbor emailed to say he took inspiration from our pace. I responded:

Marriage and weddings aren't my cup of tea, usually, but we got sun drunk from sitting outside in perfect warm/cool weather in the pretty garden at Bodley Bullock. The couple exchanged sweet homemade vows under a honeysuckle bush, with the bride's brother (a poet) officiating. Just as James offered a ring to Amy, a dove lit on a power line overhead and sang a few piercingly sweet notes. All without benefit of a wedding planner.

He said something like "You need a blog..."

Urban transformation performed by mere humans

Lucky -- that's me (or, according to Ms. LB, high school English teacher, "That'd be I.") Sitting for 20 years at the corner of Campsie and Campsie, about four blocks north of Main, wondering when or if people will notice that it's great to live in Lexington's promising-but-not-yet-fulfilled downtown.

And then, people start noticing. About 20 seconds after they start noticing, they start moving in. There's a geneaology of who-told-whom-what to get the ball rolling, and then there are huge important moments in how it's all unfolding.

Key Group: Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association, Inc., chugging away on little projects so we can be proud of the place we live.

Key Visionary Persons: MLKNA founder Peggy Tichenor and her man Virgil, who defied all wisdom and moved from a snug suburb into a condemned house on North MLK -- and now it's an award-winning, HGTV-televised showplace.

Key Realtor Person: Donna Elder, realtor with a conscience extraordinaire, who helped save the Brand-Barrow House at Fourth and N. MLK by convincing the Episcopal Diocese of Lexington that moving into a promising-but-seedy-looking neighborhood could be an expression of faith. And then Donna got busy and showed house after house in the 'hood, acting as if these houses were really for sale, really good deals, with really good neighbors. So people started buying.

Key Savvy Energizer Persons: Todd and Sonya Blaydes, moving in, buying up houses with great potential, attracting energetic others to come too. Sonya formed a habit of forwarding info about houses for sale that Donna Elder posted to the MLKNA email list, and ......

Now Mick Jeffries and Lucy Points are moving onto Campsie, after they move some dirt. Their wonderful blog tells all about it. http://campsie.blogspot.com

And Mick's other blog is the very pattern of urban warm and cool -- spectacular.
http://minglefreely.blogspot.com

The Duncan Park Snow Globe

That's what it looks like when I stop at the light at Fifth and N. Lime. Ahead on my left: Duncan Park.

Designer snow flakes slow dance around the stately 1810 Morton House in the center of the Park. The house and the snow are two forms of beauty are so perfect I laugh out loud -- a Lexington picture of peace on earth.

Then the first mercenary little thought: I wonder if the MLK Neighborhood Association could make snow globes of Morton House and Duncan Park? What about other beautiful places in our part of town? The Old Episcopal Burying Ground. The Living Arts and Science Center. Could we make snow globes of favorite spots and sell them? Are the globes only made in exploitative factories in distant countries? Could we start our own factory?

The light changes. I drive alongside Duncan Park's beauty and history, through the perfect snow, home to Campsie Place.

Schedule for Lexington's Conversations on Slavery and Reparations

This is a text version of a brochure The Lexington Network produced. Thanks to Marilyn Dishman for sending it. (I've deleted sessions already concluded).


Lexington Network
"The Reparations Controversy: A Community Conversation"
A Series of Presentations / Panel Discussions, February - June, 2005
Presented by The Lexington Network


Introduction
On numerous occasions since the Emancipation Proclamation, national movements have emerged calling for reparations to redress the crimes of slavery and the post-slavery oppression of African-American people in this country. Fraught with controversy, the reparations debate is more often sidestepped than explored. This is partly because some people assume reparations means sending a government check to individual descendants of enslaved persons, when actually various proposals have been suggested that take a broader approach to educational and economic development strategies that would "level the playing field."
While the Lexington Network believes that there is much to be learned from a thoughtful consideration of the questions raised by the reparations debate, it takes no position about what specific actions, if any, should eventually occur around this issue. Through a series of monthly community dialogues, the Network hopes to introduce the key questions that frame this debate with the goal of determining how the Lexington community may wish to approach this issue in the future.

"The Reparations Debate: The Legal Perspective"
May 24, 2005 7-8:30 pm Lex'n Public Library Auditorium
Dr. Alfred L. Brophy will highlight the legal precedents set by reparations granted to survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and those Japanese/ Americans interred during World War II. He will also discuss the legal strategies that led to the successful suits by African American farmers against the U.S. Agriculture Department and cases that are the centerpiece of the reparations strategy.
(Confirmation of Dr. Brophy is pending.)

"The Reparations Debate: The Moral Perspective"
June 21, 2005 7-8:30 pm Lex'n Public Library Auditorium
Dr. James Kirby of Lexington Theological Seminary and Rabbi Marc Kline of Temple Adath will discuss the moral obligation to address the legacy of racism and discrimination. They will also explore the controversies and strategies that are raised by the current reparations movement.


For More information about this initiative, contact any of these members of the Lexington Network Reparations Community Conversation Steering Committee:
a.. Dr. Dinah Anderson (859) 323-7484 / dgande1@uky.edu
b.. Kimberly Judd (859) 257-1116 / kjjudd2@email.uky.edu
c.. John Lindsay (859) 252-7781/ jclind2@msn.com
d.. Ron Alpern (859) 293-9355 ronalp@aol.com
e.. Larry Johnson (859) 258-3108 / ljohnson@lfucg.com



Lexington Network


Featured Presenters
February
Dr. Randolph Hollingsworth is the author of the recently published book, Lexington - Queen of the Bluegrass. She received her Ph.D. in History from the University of Kentucky and presently serves as the "Director of Product Development" of the Kentucky Virtual University for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education's Virtual University.
Dr. Marion Lucas is a Professor of History and University Distinguished Professor at Western Kentucky University, having earned a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina. He is the author of Sherman and the Burning of Columbia and A History of Blacks in Kentucky. Vol. I: From Slavery to Segregation 1760-1891. He is currently researching a biography of Kentucky abolitionist and educator John G. Fee.
Dr. Anne Butler earned her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. She is an associate professor in the Whitney Young School of Honors and Liberal Studies at Kentucky State University where she also serves as the Director of the Center of Excellence for the Study of Kentucky African Americans. She is a contributing author in a forthcoming book entitled African American Fraternities and Sororities -The Vision and the Legacy.


March
Molly Secours, is a Nashville-based writer and filmmaker who has been called an "uncompromising fighter for racial equity and social justice". She will discuss the concept of white privilege and "The Big Five" reasons commonly given by those dismissing the idea of paying reparations.
In addition to being a contributor to Raymond A. Winbush's, Should America Pay? Slavery and the Raging Debate on Reparations, Ms. Secours is a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows. Her articles and columns have appeared in more than fifty newspapers and internet magazines. She attended the United Nations Prep-com in Geneva, Switzerland and, as a journalist, covered the World Conference on Racism in Durban, South Africa in 2001. She has written a bi-weekly column for the daily Nashville "City Paper" and has served as an Advisory Board Member at Fisk University's Race Relations Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. See her website http://www.steveconn.com/molly .


April
Dr. Joanne Melish received her Ph.D. from Cornell University and is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the American Studies Program at the University of Kentucky. Her fields of interest include the history of racial production in the United States, slavery and emancipation, nineteenth-century American culture and social history, and nineteenth-century African American history. She is the author of the book Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and "Race" in New England, 1780-1860. She is the recipient of a National Endowment of the Humanities Fellowship.
Dr. Mark Gooden (to be confirmed) is an Assistant Professor in Education Administration and Urban Leadership Education at the University of Cincinnati. He has written and lectured widely on legal issues in Technology and Educational Administration and was the featured speaker at the University's Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday celebration this year.


May
Alfred L. Brophy, (to be confirmed) received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and J.D from Columbia. He is currently a Professor of Law at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. He has written extensively on race and property law in colonial, antebellum and 20th Century America and has lectured nationwide on reparations.


June
Dr. Jimmy Kirby is Professor of Church and Theology at Lexington Theological Seminary (LTS). He received his doctorate in theology from Boston University School of Theology. His graduate studies combined a major in Christian education with a strong focus in social ethics. Prior to joining the LTS faculty in 1994, he served as a director of Christian education at a CME church in Indianapolis, IN.
Rabbi Marc Kline earned law degree from University of Arkansas Law School. He practiced civil rights law before entering Hebrew Union seminary in Cincinnati. He led a congregation in Florence, North Carolina prior to assuming the post at Lexington's Temple Adath Israel in 2002.

Tightening our downtown web

Ways we are becoming more connected here in the heart of Lexington:

Neighbor Mick Jeffries offers an invigorating new blog, Mingle Freely

Subscribe at thelexingtonproject@yahoo.com to the free downtown e-zine, The Lexington Project, and have your eyes pop open every other week when you see the astonishing array of things to do/be/have in our small city. Mostly do and be.

Redemptive neighborhoods

Radiant new neighbor comes over to pick up something she wants to work on for kids in the summer. A kids' community garden. She lives in one of perhaps six unusual households newly settled in our part of town, households with a mission that goes beyond the more typical, perfectly honorable (but not particularly lofty) missions the rest of us pursue: a combination of work/family/house/play/yard/help out others a little.

Those who have been here in Lexington's heart for a time (20 years in my case) distrust and dislike missions. But I like this new neighbor and I like what she tells me.

People are committing to being in a place for a long time, to living their lives among the people whom they would like to serve. Instead of scoping us out, doing a needs assessment, going back to some computer lab or a tight new house on a well-kept street to figure out what they can do for us -- they are settling in among us, listening to the people who have been here awhile, picking up the tasks that we know need to be done but don't seem to make happen.

She said a Ph.D. student at Asbury College some years ago issued a challenge and inspired a group of people to begin a new kind of ministry. "I guess we had a chip on our shoulders about the church," she said, lightly. The idea is to live among people, to be with, to share conditions, to live redemptively, in community. Instead of a standard holy text, she mentioned Wendell Berry as a wise guide. Yes!!!

So far, none of the new neighbors has issued an altar call or taken up an offering. Instead, we are seeing the first hints that old musty items may start disappearing off the to-do list of the Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association. More neighborliness is setting in. That's a kind of mission, a kind of redemption, that may well bless us all.

TSS Coffee at night

I walked in Third Street Stuff Coffee last Thursday night -- wow. I'm a daytime visitor - hadn't been there at night except for an occasional meeting. In the "sun" room, people sat at every table. Two guys bent over the orange and green chess set. The main room was standing room only -- a birthday party for someone named Mike. I ate a mozzarella/pesto salad at the tall table near the open coolers -- that was the single open spot. I watched as the sun room kaleidoscoped into a single meeting of perhaps 8 guys, using a little table top flip chart, no less. When I left the flip chart showed several items, including "People want their govt. back."

Pat Gerhard wanted a place for people to meet, and she got it. And we got it, too. Lucky us.