Hat Full of Sky

🧵My son called from the road. That’s not unusual; he travels for his work in an entertainment industry. We chatted for a minute before he told me he was wearing a hospital gown. My mind went to terrible places, but he sounded cheerful and was, right then, in good enough shape to drive. So I asked:

Bill died a few days later. My kid helped the family with transportation, so far-flung family could be together. And I’m proud of that. But my heart breaks open that my kid, at the crucial moment, knew what to do. After all of the typical frustrations of parenting him—and there were MANY—I saw his

🧵My son called from the road. That’s not unusual; he travels for his work in an entertainment industry. We chatted for a minute before he told me he was wearing a hospital gown. My mind went to terrible places, but he sounded cheerful and was, right then, in good enough shape to drive. So I asked:

Gown? He told me that he had been at a hospital, visiting a work buddy, Bill, who was about to go home on hospice. They cried, and swapped stories, and laughed with each other. Then Bill looked at my kid’s Metallica tour shirt, and said “Wish I could have worked that show.” And my kid, my baby,

🛶 James: The End?, Or, The Fire Next Time 🧵 After spending so long with James and his speech, his philosophical discussions, and the theoretical underpinnings of his survival, we come to this: violence, murder, & a breeding camp in flames. If Huck Finn's concluding chapters made Jim the object of

But, Baldwin, again: "...for here you were, big James, named for me....We have not stopped trembling yet, but if we had not loved each other, none of us would have survived, and now you must survive because we love you and for the sake of your children..."

🛶 James: The End?, Or, The Fire Next Time 🧵 After spending so long with James and his speech, his philosophical discussions, and the theoretical underpinnings of his survival, we come to this: violence, murder, & a breeding camp in flames. If Huck Finn's concluding chapters made Jim the object of

But however narratively satisfying this ending is, it's a fantasy, a limited action that still leaves James & his family, and the other enslaved folks on the run, in a precarious situation. Free, but not free. There's no systemic solution, or even solidarity. Everett does not grant them a happy

🛶 James: The End?, Or, The Fire Next Time 🧵 After spending so long with James and his speech, his philosophical discussions, and the theoretical underpinnings of his survival, we come to this: violence, murder, & a breeding camp in flames. If Huck Finn's concluding chapters made Jim the object of

"I did not intend to allow the white people of this country to tell me who I was, and limit me that way, and polish me off that way. And yet, of course, at the same time, I was being spat on and defined and described and limited, and could have been polished off with no effort whatever."

🛶 James: The End?, Or, The Fire Next Time 🧵 After spending so long with James and his speech, his philosophical discussions, and the theoretical underpinnings of his survival, we come to this: violence, murder, & a breeding camp in flames. If Huck Finn's concluding chapters made Jim the object of

And before her, others.

🛶 James: The End?, Or, The Fire Next Time 🧵 After spending so long with James and his speech, his philosophical discussions, and the theoretical underpinnings of his survival, we come to this: violence, murder, & a breeding camp in flames. If Huck Finn's concluding chapters made Jim the object of

white knight liberation, James's closing chapters give all of the agency--and the rage--to a man ready to take up arms against his oppressors. Didn't he argue with Locke about defending oneself against the enemy? And Locke had no answer. Philosophy has no answer. But violence is a practical,

🛶 James, 9/25; part 3, chs. 1, 2, 3, 4: the boy who faked his own death meets the man who faked his own life; soldiers in blue; identity crisis; father-son time, noodling-style.

🛶 Noodling = dogging. Why this scene? Because theory and knowledge don’t get it done; risking a confrontation with the enemy at least has a chance, especially when the risk is fueled by desperation. It’s a heck of an inversion of a peaceful father-son fishing trip.

🛶 A thought about Brock: his labor makes the engine go. He may be lying about Corey, but maybe not about how he speaks or thinks of himself. Internalized oppression does its work. Seven short bells (followed by a long ring) seems to be code for an emergency aboard ship, but Brock doesn’t

🛶 James, 9/24: Pt. 2, chs. 7, 8, 9: Sidewheel tragedy; finest worksong; an impossible choice. TIL about the Sultana, America’s worst maritime disaster, and the dangers of boilers.