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Friday, September 2, 2011

Music / Books On Bluegrass, Sadness, and Turning 40

Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Sep 2, 2011 at 8:09 AM

Ed Skoog is one of my favorite Seattle poets. But I'd never encountered him on a blog before; after reading this post he wrote for Coldfront Magazine, I think he's maybe one of my favorite Seattle bloggers, too. It's a long, YouTube-heavy post about the passage of time, lonely music, the allure of the banjo, and why admitting that you're sad isn't okay.

It’s very hard for people to admit that anything is sad. Maybe it’s an American or Midwestern thing. Simple and important, sadness is violently redirected. The past decade is a fantasy, now, like music and poetry. The sadness has been washed away in Old English-style warmongering, with the Department of Defense recently relabeling soldiers warfighters. A few weeks ago, a tornado destroyed a small town, Reading, Kansas, near my hometown of Topeka. It is sad. But the coverage from the Topeka Capital-Journal insists that it was not sad, it was an occasion for courage, a chance to reflect on traditions, an occasion for fundraisers with “attractions that included food, live music, games, a display of military vehicles and an evening fireworks show.”

What a fine piece of writing. Maybe we can all convince Skoog to start up his own blog? I want to happen upon lovely multimedia pieces like this on a more frequent basis.

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I've had a few female friends who've spent time in prison, and they were struck by how the women censored emotion. Grief and morning were strictly forbidden.

This also reminds me of the first episode of that HBO show about a family that runs a funeral home (I only saw the first episode). The father is killed, and the mother is forbidden to morn at the wake - a wake being held in her own funeral parlor - as all mourners are taken into a side room so as not to upset the other attendees.

Finally at the grave site the widow and her grief burst forth and she drapes her wailing body over the coffin. Very un-American.

Posted by Mrs Jarvie on September 2, 2011 at 3:34 PM