RIP George Bookless

 

I learned recently from the Knox College alumni magazine of the death of George Bookless last spring.  George was a senior in my first year, 1964-5.  He was one of the older students known on campus as what was then called a public intellectual--someone involved in campus and political discourse as well as in their field of endeavor. Along with those known as literary writers,    they were role models.

There were others I remember.  Some, like Gordon Benkler, I knew of mostly through his writing and speaking, or Jim McCurry as a literary writer and scholar.  Others I knew a little, like the well-known wild man Cecil Steed, or the poet and editor of the literary magazine Jay Matson.  And others treated me as a friend, even if I was still a little in awe, like Gary McCool and Mary Jacobson. (Mary was in her third year then, so I got the chance to know her better the next year, along with Judy Dugan, Bob Misiorowski, Kevern Cameron, Gerry Roe, James Campbell and others.)  

In that first year experience, George Bookless was somewhere in between. I remember him as a public presence, but also as a witty and affable raconteur who was often in the company of Gary, Mary and their friends.  In fact, Mary Jacobson is the source of two memories.  She joked with him that after he became a great success in the world, he should endow a library for Knox, but insist they name it the Bookless Library...  It was funnier in those pre-computerized days than it is now.

The other is one of those stray memories--in the Gizmo, with the new Beatles song called "Yesterday" playing often on the jukebox, Mary laughed at the line "I'm not half the man I used to be," something George used to say that she thought was ridiculous but endearing.

But the direct memory that has stayed with me is from a day that spring, shortly before graduation when for various reasons the campus was in tumult.  I was staring at the bulletin board near the entrance of the student union after dinner when George surprised me by stopping to speak with me.  Exactly how he knew I was an aspiring literary writer I no longer recall, but he talked to me about that, quite seriously.  He offered advice and encouragement.  (The one specific piece of advice I remember is the one I didn't take--to write about my early adolescence rather than my life now, because I was too close to it.  He was right of course, but I was too emmeshed in the fast changes of the moment to yet be gripped by anything else.)

These many years later I am still astonished by the attention these older students paid me, especially this spontaneous moment with George Bookless.

The last I remember hearing of him was that he'd joined the Peace Corps, as did may Knox students I knew over the next years.  According to his extensive online obituary, he quickly wound up being witness to a civil war in Nigeria, and in essence a part of the government.  Though he was an English major with biology minor at Knox, he'd learned photography from his father, who had served in the Army Air Force photography unit.  Photography and related activities became his profession.

George visited historic Galena, Illinois on the Mississippi River to photograph eagles, and decided to make his life there.  He became an Alderman at Large and worked on many civic projects including downtown reconstruction, consistent with his advocacy and activism at Knox. 

He seems to have led a full life, with family (including two children and I count four grandchildren), a civic and community life, and life outdoors, camping, hiking and canoeing. He displayed a talent for cooking, and in their tributes, one of his children and one grandchild offered that a dish he learned to make in Nigeria remains their favorite.  I admire all of it more than I can say.

But the best image I have is of George as storyteller, which both of these tributes and the obit mention. I'll remember his kindness to me and I wanted to acknowledge it here, as well as the kindness of those other older students.  But I'll want to remember George Bookless like that: out on his Galena front porch, telling tales.

Non-Democracy in America

Parade float in Germany. People everywhere but the US get what's happening.

Claude Malhuret's short address to the Senate of France continues to resonate, through the several times I've carefully listened to it. In summarizing the import and impact of what Chaos is causing in his brief rule so far, he brought up the swiftness with which Hitler toppled the democracy of Germany.  A French statesman does not make this analogy lightly.

For the Hitlerization of America is on schedule.  So much so that the Polity Project, an organization that studies and characterizes governments worldwide has re-classified the United States as a "non-democracy."

The overwhelming number of illegal orders roiling everything the government does is accompanied by other automatic subversions of the rule of law, including the attempt to say the pardon of one of his January 6 thugs includes erasing subsequent charges that he engaged in conspiracy to kill a government investigator.

The attacks on free speech are so various and so many that several observers remark on the palpable climate of fear they are creating.

Last week the Muskovite takeover and decimation of the federal government moved into outright thuggery when armed men forced their way into a small resisting agency. They were reputed to be US Marshals, though this is not in their remit, and there's some question about whether that's actually who they were.

While Chaos makes lots of noise disabling the US government, the world order and life on Earth, his administration is readying the militarized sweep of allegedly illegal immigrants, to herd them into the concentration camps now being prepared--that is, those not already sent to Gitmo. 

The analogy extends to foreign affairs, as Europeans note the Hitler-like treachery of the US of Chaos betraying Ukraine, penalizing longstanding allies and cozying up to enemies.

So far however the resistance has not measured up to the threat. The Fidel-sized, Fuhrer-inflected State of the Union seems to have galvanized his Republican support, while the Democrats were all over the place, since admitting they blew it. Congressional Democrats face another test very soon with budget votes, but so far they seem disorganized.

Americans face the prospect this year of recession combined with inflation, and the absence of a government to address them.  Result: more chaos.

But Malhuret holds out one hope: "In America, the defenders of freedom have always prevailed." It's the test of this generation.  So far the resistance is scattered and apparently without strategy. The energy in the streets is there, but there's nothing yet to rally around.  So far, the signs at these protests have been more articulate that the words of any leader.

Pittsburgh protestors in one of many demos Friday 3/7 about cuts in science research.

In previous crises in American history, people have turned to people of stature, respected enough by the majority to be listened to. That's part of what's disturbing now--because it's hard to think of any such persons.  Maybe the very idea of people of stature is obsolete. (Except maybe in Canada, where an actual person of stature is to be the new Prime Minister.) The last one in America may have been Obama, and he's been noticeably quiet. Some suggest this leadership will have to come from the states, from governors and attorneys-general.

This is also in contrast to the reactions in other countries.  European leaders almost without exception quickly reaffirmed their support for Ukraine in the wake of the Chaos betrayal of that country, and his further betrayals of the Atlantic Alliance.  Canadian leaders with the support of its citizens are staunchly resisting the Chaos threats to its sovereignty and economy.  With actual and threatened tariffs, Canadians are stripping the shelves of US beverages (especially alcoholic) and other products. Ontario is imposing its own tariff on the electric power it generates that parts of the upper Midwestern US depend on, and threaten to turn it off altogether.  In each case, leaders aren't hedging, they are resisting, and their poll numbers show popular support.

One form of resistance in the US is potentially dangerous: the Washington Post reports that Tesla dealerships, charging stations and vehicles have been the targets of Molotov cocktails and gunfire.  Something like this could be the pretext for a federal escalation, now that Chaos has installed puppet leaders in the military and Justice Department.  Or he could unleash his violent minions, especially the ones whose leaders he recently freed from prison. 

 Why do I suggest this possibility?  It's the next step in the Hitler playbook.