Monday, June 24, 2019

2019 Revised edition, "The Lucky Strike Papers"

The list price of the 2019 Revised Edition of my book (softcover version) is $24.95.  As of a couple of days ago, the book could be purchased at my website for $27.25 (at the slightly discounted price of $24.00, plus $3.25 for Media Mail Shipping). 

For a limited time, the book is now available, at my website, for $22.95 (with Media Mail Shipping included).  Please see the link below.

https://andrewleefielding.com/purchase

Here, too, is the amazon.com link for the book:

https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Strike-Papers-Journeys-Television/dp/1629334081/ref

Thursday, June 20, 2019

June 19th essay by Peter Wehner, in the Times: "Trump Is Betting That Anger Can Still Be Power"

Some of the best commentary about President Trump, today, comes from conservatives who oppose him. The excellent piece, below, is by Peter Wehner, a Contributing Opinion Writer at the New York Times.

He writes, in the essay: "...in their ferocious defense of the president, Trump supporters are signaling that decency is a form of weakness, that cruelty is a welcome and highly effective political weapon and that the low road is the preferred road. At one point, Republicans were willing to tolerate Mr. Trump’s brutish tactics and reprehensible character as the price of party loyalty; today many of them seem to relish it. They see the dehumanization of others as a form of entertainment."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/opinion/trump-2020-announcement.html

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Juneteenth

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (1952) is one of the great works of American literature. In 1999, five years after Mr. Ellison died, at age 80, his novel Juneteenth was released. He had worked on the novel for decades, yet it remained unfinished at his death. His literary executor, John F. Callahan, a professor at Lewis & Clark College, assembled the book from some two thousand pages of manuscript and notes Mr. Ellison had written.

https://www.amazon.com/Juneteenth-Novel-Ralph-Ellison/dp/0394464575/ref

In 2010, a much longer version of the novel--Three Days Before the Shooting--was published. The book, made up of more than one thousand of the two thousand pages of material Mr. Ellison had left behind, was edited by Mr. Callahan, and writer/critic Adam Bradley, professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Days-Before-Shooting/dp/0375759549/ref

Today, June 19th, marks the observance of the day known as Juneteenth--June 19, 1865, two months after the conclusion of the Civil War--when the end of slavery in Texas was officially carried out. The holiday commemorates not only the end of slavery in Texas, but, more broadly, its abolishment in the United States as a whole.

As noted on Wikipedia: "Texas was the most remote of the slave states, and the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, was not enforced there until after the Confederacy collapsed." Says Wikipedia:  "On June 18, Union Army General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston Island with 2,000 federal troops to occupy Texas on behalf of the federal government. The following day, standing on the balcony of Galveston's Ashton Villa, Granger read aloud the contents of  'General Order No. 3', announcing the total emancipation of those held as slaves."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth

Here is a story from CNN.com, today, about observances of Juneteenth. Pennsylvania, today, became the latest state to officially recognize the holiday; four states have yet to do so.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/19/us/juneteenth-state-holidays-trnd/index.html

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

The Bird of the Week, from the American Bird Conservancy

From June 7th: the Red-shouldered Hawk.

https://abcbirds.org/bird/red-shouldered-hawk/

CNN reporter Jim Acosta's new book

The book, just released, is titled The Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America (Harper)I'd like to read it.

https://www.amazon.com/Enemy-People-Dangerous-Truth-America/dp/0062916122/ref

June 11th essay by Frank Bruni, in the New York Times

The column's headline: "Donald Trump’s Medical Malice."  

The sub-headline:  "There’s a word for his insinuations that something is wrong with Joe Biden. It’s 'sick.' ”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/11/opinion/trump-biden-health.html