'TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Andre Norton
By Baron Dave Romm
Andre Norton died March 17th at age 93. It seems somehow fitting that a writer who remained young at heart lived to an advanced age. I confess that I haven't read much Andre Norton for maybe thirty years. Most of the ones I've read comparatively recently were favorites from adolescence. Still, she remains one of my top recommendations and her works hold up remarkably well.
The Golden Age of Science Fiction is 12, and about this time I discovered Robert Heinlein, Mark Twain, Isaac Asimov, Alan Nourse and Andre Norton. Among others. Our middle school library had the science fiction books nicely marked with an atom on the spine. There was no distinction between fantasy and sf, which is just as well for Norton. As her extensive bibliography shows, she was equally adept at all elements of the fantastic and often combined them. She tended to write in sequences, but not trilogies; you could follow the exploits of your friends but each story was different and each adventure took you down a different path.
I remember clearly my first Andre Norton novel: Star Gate. Followed by Star Guard, and then a bunch more. Star Gate could easily have been the inspiration for Stargate SG-1, if SG-1 took place on a bleak planet with dying technology and hope coming from desperation. It isn't really one of her stronger books, but I haven't read it in nearly 40 years and the twilight feelings are still strong. Star Guard too was about humans using ancient technology from older races that we barely understand. Hmm... Babylon 5?
Still in the same alphabetic listing was Star Man's Son, aka Daybreak 2250AD. This is one of the books I read more recently, with a bit of trepidation, just to see if my childhood favorites held up. It's dated, but the storytelling remains. In a post-atomic war world, one boy's journey into a still-radioactive city is more the stuff of highways with huge potholes and crumbling buildings than later writers who through mutants and evil scientists at us. The voyage of self-discovery is more important than the background, and the hints of past science are held up to awe and mystery.
My school library may have been fond of books with "star" in the title, but Andre Norton's book titles are all over the alphabet. Of course, the author doesn't always have final control of the book title. Indeed, Lin Carter, another prolific author at about the same time, bragged that he and Norton were in a race to see who could have books beginning with the most different letters of the alphabet. He was complaining that a publisher had just taken his "J". Or something like that: He may have been kidding and this was during a party at Cartermanse in the 70s so I may not have the anecdote exact. Still.
Andre Norton wrote many coming of age novels, now "YA" or "Young Adult" fiction (and even that is being subdivided into further marketing categories). Most of the time, when a male comes of age he assumes the responsibilities of a man. Heinlein's juveniles or Huck Finn. And most of the time, when a female comes of age she keeps her girlish innocence. Alice In Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz; even Scarlett O'Hara remains the selfish coquette after several marriages, bearing a child and the death of her mother. Norton's characters all grow up. The women as well as the men take responsibility for themselves and their charges and enter adulthood. They often have a hidden power or animal friend to help them along, but doesn't everyone? In Steel Magic, the main character uses her talents to lead the kids to safety with far greater courage than Dorothy Gale.
I stopped reading juveniles about the time the Witch World series was coming to the forefront, and I'm just as happy. In my reading, Norton writes better science fiction than fantasy. The perilous journeys of The Time Traders and Galactic Derelict and the self-awakening in The Zero Stone. Work far better, for me, than any of the Witch World or Moon of Three Rings sequence.
I'd still give Galactic Derelict or Daybreak 2250AD to any kid, though probably not as their first foray into the fantastic. Today, Harry Potter rules, and for all the right reasons. But Andre Norton should still be in school libraries and should still be read by kids in their Golden Age.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
George Solomou: Letter From a British Soldier (In These Times)
I am resigning from the Territorial Army because I believe the war in Iraq is wrong.
Pat Dowell: Nice Isn't Enough (In These Times)
Sunset Story reemphasizes the old cliche that the older you are, the more your life It's not the usual retirement home that has residents who want-or are allowed-to attach hand-scrawled "Free Mumia" placards outside their doors, but that's typical at Sunset Hall.
Jeffrey Epstein: Bebe Neuwirth: The Broadway baby faces a Trial by Jury. (out.com)
We have adored Bebe Neuwirth for a long time.
Rate My Professors
Reader Suggestion
Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Post Gazette's online coverage of the protest on Sat.
Had wished for more pictures, but I guess that to get even one is lucky, along with the article!
Purple Gene Reviews
'The Big Band'
Purple Genes' review of the "Big Band" - "Mitch Marcus Quintet + 13" playing live onstage at the Café Dunord in San Francisco on March 14,2005:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Beautiful, sunny & windy day.
KIRO in Seattle is streaming audio again. Check out Mike Webb weekdays, 9pm - 1am, and my old pal, Erin Hart, same hours, on the weekend.
The kid has only 2 days of school this week, and none next week.
NBC Pilot
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo has been tapped to star in NBC's comedy pilot "All In," based on the life of poker champ Annie Duke. The casting of Garofalo lifts the contingency off the project, in which Garofalo plays a single mom of three in Las Vegas who is a professional poker player.
Actress-comedian-radio host Garofalo was twice nominated for an Emmy for her role on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show." On the big screen, she will next be seen in Marc Forster's dramatic thriller "Stay."
Janeane Garofalo
Bears All in Autobiography
Robert Crumb
Never one for blowing his own trumpet, iconic cartoonist Robert Crumb describes himself thus: "A crank, skeptic, curmudgeon, a whiner, a sexist."
The oddball American, whose sexually explicit and often gruesome comic strips disturb, disgust and delight in equal measure, is being dragged kicking and screaming back into the public gaze to promote his autobiography.
The creator of famous strips like Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural comes across in "The R. Crumb Handbook" as a man disgusted by what he sees.
Crumb's wife Aline, who collaborates on some of his comics and is described as his muse, says cartoons laying bare the uncomfortable truths lurking beneath the social veneer are as relevant today as they were 30 years ago.
She criticized what she called a right-wing cultural hegemony in the United States which encouraged her and Crumb to move to a remote village in the south of France.
Robert Crumb
The Big List
NAACP Image Awards
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., received the Chairman's Award, while the Vanguard Award went to pop star Prince. Talk show host and entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey also was inducted into the NAACP Hall of Fame.
A list of winners of the 36th annual NAACP Image Awards:
Television Categories:
Outstanding comedy series: "The Bernie Mac Show."
Outstanding actor in a comedy series: Bernie Mac, "The Bernie Mac Show."
Outstanding actress in a comedy series: Mo' Nique, "The Parkers."
Outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series: Reggie Hayes, "Girlfriends."
Outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series: Camille Winbush, "The Bernie Mac Show."
Outstanding drama series: "Law and Order."
Outstanding actor in a drama series: Taye Diggs, "Kevin Hill."
Outstanding actress in a drama series: Nia Long, "Third Watch."
Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series: Mekhi Phifer, "ER."
Outstanding supporting actress in a drama series: Khandi Alexander, "CSI: Miami."
Outstanding TV movie, mini-series, or dramatic special: "Something the Lord Made."
Outstanding actor in a TV movie, mini-series or dramatic special: Jamie Foxx, "Redemption."
Outstanding actress in a TV movie, mini-series or dramatic special: Lynn Whitfield, "Redemption."
Outstanding actor in a daytime drama series: Shemar Moore, "The Young and the Restless."
Outstanding actress in a daytime drama series: Victoria Rowell, "The Young & the Restless."
Outstanding TV news, talk or information, series or special: Tavis Smiley.
Outstanding variety series or special: "Genius: A Night for Ray Charles."
Outstanding performance in a Youth/Children's Program: Raven Symone, "That's So Raven."
Motion Picture Categories:
Outstanding motion picture: "Ray."
Outstanding actor in a motion picture: Jamie Foxx, "Ray."
Outstanding actress in a motion picture: Kerry Washington, "Ray."
Outstanding supporting actor in a motion picture: Morgan Freeman, "Million Dollar Baby."
Outstanding supporting actress in a motion picture: Regina King, "Ray."
Outstanding independent or foreign film: "Woman Thou Art Loosed."
Literature Categories:
Outstanding literary work, fiction: "Woman, Thou Art Loosed!" by Bishop T. D. Jakes.
Outstanding literary work, non-fiction: "Hallelujah! The Welcome Table" by Maya Angelou.
Outstanding literary work, Children's: "The 1963 Civil Rights March" by Scott Ingram.
Music Categories:
Outstanding new artist: Kanye West, "College Dropout."
Outstanding male artist: Usher, "Confessions."
Outstanding female artist: Fantasia, "Free Yourself."
Outstanding duo or group: Destiny's Child, "Destiny Fulfilled."
Outstanding jazz artist: Nancy Wilson, "RSVP: Rare Songs, Very Personal."
Outstanding gospel artist, traditional or contemporary: Ben Harper & The Blind Boys of Alabama, "There Will Be a Light."
Outstanding music video: "If I Ain't Got You," Alicia Keys.
Outstanding song: "If I Ain't Got You," Alicia Keys.
Outstanding album: "Musicology," Prince.
NAACP Image Awards
BET Founder May Cede Control
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson and Black Entertainment Television are known for one thing: each other. Soon, they could go their separate ways after a profitable 25-year relationship.
Johnson is busy with other projects, including his losing NBA franchise in Charlotte, N.C., while the deal that let him stay on as BET's chief executive after he sold the network in 2000 expires this year.
Stepping down at BET would give Johnson more time to pursue his varied interests.
A divorced father of two, Democratic Party donor and consummate schmoozer who counts former President Clinton among his friends, Johnson set his sights high early on.
Robert Johnson
May Prove to Be Reputable
New Orleans Legend
A century ago, sung in the Appalachian hills from the point of view of a young and weary prostitute, it was about the pitfalls of sin. In the 1940s, Woody Guthrie turned it into an anthem to working-class America. In the 1960s, it was about daring sexuality.
At every turn, even as its words wrapped themselves around new eras and sensibilities, "House of the Rising Sun" remained a song of New Orleans. The simple folk song in a minor key always spoke to the sultry allure of this city from its first words, an opening line seared into one generation after another: "There is a house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun."
No one has figured out - and many have tried - if the song depicts an actual bordello, and, if it does, where the real Rising Sun was. But a collection of pottery shards pulled recently from the ruddy soil of the French Quarter could prove to be the key that would unlock that beloved mystery.
The archeologists, who plan to launch a more exhaustive study on Tuesday, found that a hotel called the Rising Sun appeared to have operated on the site from the early 1800s until 1822, when it burned to the ground.
For a lot more, New Orleans Legend
Interview
Jim Guckert/Jeff Gannon
Should I call you Jim Guckert or Jeff Gannon?
My Amex card still comes in the name of James Guckert, but I want to be called Jeff Gannon. That is who I am.
Or rather it is the pseudonym under which you gained access to White House press briefings for two years, until your identity was revealed. Why do you think they let you in?
I don't know the answer to that. I don't know the criteria they use. I asked to be let in, and they allowed me to come. I was very fond of all the people in the press office. They treated me well. They probably treated me better than I deserved.
Scott McClellan, the press secretary to President Bush, called on you and allowed you to ask questions on a nearly daily basis. What, exactly, is your relationship with him?
I was just another guy in the press room. Did I try to curry favor with him? Sure. When he got married, I left a wedding card for him in the press office. People are saying this proves there is some link. But as Einstein said, "Sometimes a wedding card is just a wedding card.''
You mean like "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar''? That wasn't Einstein. That was Freud.
Oh, Freud. O.K. I got my old Jewish men confused.
You should learn the difference between them if you want to work in journalism.
For the rest, Jim Guckert/Jeff Gannon
Star Trek Fan
Diana Schaub
Diana Schaub, a Loyola College professor and adviser to resident Bush, is convinced that cloning and embryonic stem cell research are evil. She says this belief was formed, in part, by watching Star Trek.
The show has "left me receptive to the view that mortality is, if not precisely a good thing, then at least the necessary foundation of other very good things," she wrote in an article last year. "There is something misguided about the attempt to overcome mortality."
Her interest in mortality and Star Trek could be regarded as the quirks of an academic if not for her position on the President's Council on Bioethics, a 18-member panel that advises Bush on some of the most polarizing subjects in society.
Schaub, a registered Republican who is chairwoman of Loyola's political science department, doesn't see her views as conservative or liberal. She says they are the logical result of studying Abraham Lincoln -- and yes, Captain Kirk.
"Cloning is an evil," she wrote in an article published in 2003. "It is slavery, plus abortion."
Diana Schaub
Pa. Inmate Limited
Clover Quest
George Kaminski, who has spent more than half of his life behind bars, has one more reason to hate prison.
Kaminski, serving time for crimes including burglary and shooting at a police officer, has collected a world record 72,927 four-leaf clovers since 1995. He found all of them on the grounds of various Pennsylvania prisons.
But now that he moved to a minimum-security facility with fewer clovers, he's worried about the competition.
Edward Martin Sr., of Soldotna, Alaska, claims to have collected more than 76,000 four-leaf clovers. The 73-year-old retiree has applied to Guinness to be recognized as the new record holder.
Clover Quest
Found Near Hawaii
WWII Japanese Submarine
The wreckage of a large World War II-era Japanese submarine has been found by researchers in waters off Hawaii.
A research team from the University of Hawaii discovered the I-401 submarine Thursday during test dives off Oahu.
"We thought it was rocks at first, it was so huge," said Terry Kerby, pilot of the research craft that found the vessel. "But the sides of it kept going up and up and up, three and four stories tall. It's a leviathan down there, a monster."
The submarine is from the I-400 Sensuikan Toku class of subs, the largest built before the nuclear ballistic missile submarines of the 1960s.
WWII Japanese Submarine
