North of Center Wednesday, NOVEMBER 4, 2009 Free take home and read Volume I, Issue 13 Lex. refugees in Silver Creek to the Great Recession Camp Nelson Is the American promise a reality? 3 Days on the Kentucky River, part 2 By Beth Connors-Manke After I finished that article, I sat By Troy Lyle night sky. One filled with many more wondering why it seemed natural to stars and planets, and a Milky Way, not In August, I began a series on refu- end by citing “The New Colossus.” Morning on Silver Creek to mention a moon of such immensity gees in Lexington. In my first install- Obviously, the poem is attached to the There’s nothing like the smell of a few of us lost sleep. ment, I looked at the work of Kentucky American icon of immigration and coffee and bacon in the morning. Refugee Ministries. The piece ended beckons to refugees who have been Though the morning’s coffee Slipping Back Into the Silver by invoking the famous sonnet on the oppressed and ill-used. But why, when tasted a bit funny from my new perco- It didn’t take any of us long to break Statue of Liberty written by Emma we think about refugees, don’t we her- lator—like most things, the percolator down camp, repack the kayaks and canoe Lazarus: ald the Declaration of Independence or needed to be broken in before hitting and get back on the water. I was first the Constitution, the documents that its stride—the bacon was something in my Dirigo. I paddled slightly ahead “Give me your tired, your poor, assure political and personal freedom? else. Thick sliced and perfectly sea- and, while filling my bowl, floated upon Your huddled masses yearning to breathe Why is it the sympathetic Mother of soned. Otter had brought it back from three deer—a doe and two fawns—who free Exiles rather than the tenets of democ- his father’s farm in Dixon, Ky. As he had walked right up to the edge of the The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. racy that we trumpet? put it, “The hog was free ranged, fed creek for a good morning drink. They Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, One answer is that the image of the only corn and vegetables, no slop or didn’t mind the smoke rings I playfully I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Mother of Exiles is human and com- hormone boosted feed.” blew into the treetops, nor my foul forting while the Bill of Rights doesn’t You could taste the difference. The breath. I was an integral part of the river The poem, entitled “The New qualify as warm and fuzzy. True. One entire life of this hog was painstak- bottom now, one of the regulars. I felt Colossus,” sets a contrast between the may also be tempted to believe that ingly monitored so our morning’s sow- like their prodigal son being welcomed old and rich-with-tradition culture of America really is the Mother of Exiles belly reached maximum succulence. back to a Kentucky River I had all but Europe and a more pragmatic, wel- to those who seek her shores; those in It all had purpose, right down to the forgotten in recent years. coming America. The poem rejects a that camp may find the sonnet an art- attentive butchering done by local Next came Otter and Pack. Last “brazen giant of Greek fame” that stri- ful commemoration of the spirit of the Amish. Add in some locally harvested was Rush. After knocking clumps of dently conquers land after land in favor nation. eggs and bread, cooked in the remnant mud from our feet, the result of our of the “Mother of Exiles.” Just before As I’ve been working on this refu- bacon grease, and we ate like kings. hasty scramble down the mucky banks asking for tired, poor, and huddled gee series, I’ve been trying to under- masses, the Mother of Exiles declares, stand what the U.S. offers to refugees. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” Does America really give sympathy to The implication is that America has the temptest-tost? Does the U.S. extend the ability to assimilate those who have its most prized possessions—political been expelled by more rigid cultures, freedom and economic stability—to cultures that eliminate the unwanted those who arrive on its shores? Does rather than absorbing them into the life of the nation. continued on page 3 Bank funds MTR Demonstration aims to get people to close JPMorgan Chase accounts

By Danny Mayer banks to get them to publicly urge

their corporate headquarters in New DANNY MAYER Friday, October 30 York City to quit funding mountain Main Street top removal, and for bank-holders to Taking a breath just past Lock 9 on the Kentucky River. withdraw their funds from these banks Before should they fail to do so. About the time that the coffee of our campsite, we assembled at the 1:23 P.M. I am maybe fifteen yards Here in Lexington, the twenty and bacon smells saturated our sur- mouth of the Silver for our morning behind them leaving from Phoenix demonstrators arriving to the bank rounding Silver Creek campsite, Rush smoke fest. There’s nothing like being Park, but I am already on the Chase side several yards before me were about to returned from his morning jaunt. He high in the early morning at the junc- of the street, so really only a couple yards sit in front of Chase for three hours on awoke daily before any of the rest of tion of small and big bodies of water behind, at most. They number twenty, this windy fall day not just for reasons us and took long walks around the merging together. The rush of blood maybe, though more are on their way of awareness, but for reasons of action. fields and bluffs around our campsites. to the head, the awakening of the soul, once class lets out. In five minutes time, I found out this backstory when I Having slept wrapped in a tarp and teases the mind, relaxes it. some will be sitting on the downtown bumped into Marty Mudd, a physics a sleeping bag seemingly purchased Acclimated to the wild after a night steps of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, their graduate student at UK who was sta- in the 1970s, he could only manage of sleep, we each broke rank and paddled arms entwined; others will be holding tioned at Chase a little after 1:00 P.M. about 5 hours a night. To make mat- at our own pace, finding our individual up signs for passing automobiles. that Friday. He was waiting for the dem- ters worse the moon had played havoc rhythms within nature. Out front once “They” are largely a group of stu- onstrators to arrive from where they with him. As Rush put it, “that moon again, something deep within me began dent or student-age activists standing were gathering at Phoenix Park, ideally was intense…I was actually colder once to stir. For the first time in nearly 10 and sitting in front of Chase Bank in so that any other late-arriving demon- it went down…like it was radiating heat years I felt the call of the wild. I felt downtown Lexington. They are here strators (or, as it turns out, journalists) or something.” a strong urge to paddle right out into together as part of a larger national would know where things would be The intensity of the night sky was the unknown forever. To a land that I day of action to call attention to—and taking place. He was going to withdraw something we all noted during our tilled, sowed and feed myself upon; to to stop—the practice of Mountain Top funds from his account once the dem- breakfast meal. It’s amazing how many a small home I built from cedar posts Removal (MTR), a brutal and destruc- onstration began and hoped to meet more stars are visible when you get out- and mud; to a place where I hunted for tive practice of extracting coal that with a regional manager in the office. side city limits, outside the confines deer and turkey and fished for crappie has systematically managed to destroy He had started a list of names to get of light pollution. It is estimated that and trout; to a world that functioned the ecological, socio-cultural, and eco- pledges from other Chase bank custom- within a city the size of Lexington, on some ancient circadian rhythm, in nomic landscapes of, among other ers to withdraw their funds. It was a bril- some 50 percent or more of the night harmony with itself and the land. places, large swaths of Kentucky lying liant move. Hit the fuckers in the only sky is lost in the glow of a sleeping city. In truth, I wanted to be Harlan 100 miles east of here. place they care about: their bank vaults. And in maximum light areas such as Hubbard. I had read how he and his Other people like themselves, in It was also a move with a his- downtown, that number can increase wife, Anna, spent 34 years living off a places like Seattle and San Francisco tory: two decades ago, as our national to as high as 65 percent. At 65 percent riverbank on the Ohio River by tend- and Phoenix and Huntington and government and many corporations you can barely make out the North ing goats, gardening, canning, fishing, Charleston, also gathered in front of located in the U.S. continued to sup- Star, much less the Milky Way. All this weaving, gathering wood and scaveng- Chase. The bank, described on its web- port a racist apartheid rule in South light aimlessly projected to the heavens ing for useful items that washed ashore site as “a leading global financial ser- Africa, college students began demand- so we can find our way to the local along the river bottom of their Trimble vices firm with assets of $2 trillion and ing that their colleges divest themselves McDonalds, see our way across the County home. I wanted my own Payne operations in more than 60 countries,” of investments in companies doing mall parking lot or, I dare say, feel safe Hollow, where I could make music also happens to be one of the major business there. Their activism in the in our own homes. Ridiculous! with friends, paint in the early morn- banks funding mountain top removal. early 1980s helped force both the U.S. Here we were some 10 miles from ing light, write by candlelight and As such, demonstrators throughout to withdraw support of the country Lexington, and less than 4 miles from ride a shanty boat from Heidelberg to the nation were staging happenings in Nicholasville, and it’s as if we were front of their local and regional Chase continued on page 2 looking into an altogether different continued on page 6

Contents In the next issue 2 — The Neighborhood 5 — Culture 8 — Comics Return of “Misadventures.” Courts wanted. Apply within. Ponty: singular, and in town. I’m Not From Here An Odd installation. 7 — Opinion Creekwater: Fishtowne Glenn reviews No Exit. 4 — Film & Media Cool on coal. Moore in love. Eva & Mike. Benton being Benton. Review: Paranormal Activity. Letter to the editor. 2 North of Center The Neighborhood

North of Center is a periodical, Generously Odd: deliciously strange a place, and a perspective. Keep reading to find out what By Amber Scott are mouse playgrounds inspired by a gross, but here, in this treasure chest of that means. strange stream of consciousness driz- strange, you start to see hair as a fabric The dangling hands in the window zled with anxiety. Even dishes, every- or a feather, just another adornment to Editor & Publisher of the Loudoun House in Castlewood day dishes like cups and plates and glamorize and provide texture. Danny Mayer Park are tempting, luring you into pitchers, have taken on a more expres- “In contemporary craft, artists are their grasp without moving a muscle. sive and comfortably unsettling façade. exploring traditional craft materials in Features Something about them turns you “Artists are interpreting ‘generous’ a brand new way,” said Townsend. “A Beth Connors-Manke from an upstanding gallery patron of and ‘odd’ in a lot of different ways,” lot of people are dealing with the idea the Lexington Art League into a cow- said Townsend. “Some of the pieces of function or the idea of adornment Film & Media ering fool lying in the middle of the are strange and some of them look in ways that aren’t typical. It’s a fuzzy Colleen Glenn floor. strange, but they’re really dealing with area, contemporary craft, and it’s one Each hand reaches for you, each things we’re all familiar with, these lit- of my favorites.” Culture with different levels of success at draw- tle idiosyncrasies and random associa- That fuzzy area explored by the Nick Kidd ing you into its clutches. The piece, tions we all have. They have resonance pieces of Generously Odd certainly shift Brain Cloud by Richmond, Virginia even though they may seem so far out craft out of the safety of cross-stitch Sports, Layout artist Debbie Quick, makes you think, there.” and scrapbooking and push it into Keith Halladay makes little bursts of ideas bubble up As the exhibit itself twists superfi- the realm of art. With that push come from your head and, if you’re looking cially odd and makes it extraordinarily some unfamiliar feelings, most of Contributors at it the right way and experiencing it common, the individual pieces turn which are also wholly satisfying ones Andrew Battista like a weirdo, float up into the pillowy strange into beautiful. even if they do leave you in a pile on Michael Benton mass connected to the ceiling. Take the hair. Actual human hair the floor. Brian Connors-Manke Brain Cloud is a head trip, as are sacrificed in the pursuit of craft that A.G. Greebs most of the pieces in the LAL’s lat- becomes a necklace fit for the winner For more info on Generously Odd: Craft John P. Lackey est exhibit Generously Odd: Craft Now. of individual immunity and a modern Now, go to www.lexingtonartleague.org Troy Lyle Curated by EKU art professor and locket that cherishes a person beyond or plan to attend a free Art Talk lecture Trevor Tremaine artist Travis Townsend, Generously Odd what a photograph ever could. Out of with Curator Travis Townsend at LAL @ was narrowed down from 1,600 sub- context it could be creepy, maybe even Loudoun House on Nov. 12 at 7 P.M. Please address correspon- missions into the 61 pieces of art on dence, including advertising display through December. inquiries and letters to the Unlike most of the LAL’s exhib- editor, to: its, Generously Odd is saturated with installations, a type of site-specific, [email protected]. three-dimensional artwork designed to transform the perception of a space. Unless otherwise noted, all The walls are doodled on, enveloping material copyright © 2009 you with drifty little bits of strange. North of Center, LLC. The fireplaces have become towns full of competing and nearly identi- cal churches. Nooks and crannies Coal (cont.) continued from page 1 but they don’t get back in touch with him on Friday. Leaving the bank’s inner (by changing popular opinion) and sanctuary, he comes outside to say that Roller, who had earlier been one of the brochures claim to care about. So rich multinational companies, who nobody will speak with him. five cops observing the protesters, had Todd and his pack of thieves just left. exist solely to make profit for itself, A couple minutes after Marty and called him in. I’d have to get in touch Retreated to a private room and waited to see that their support for apartheid Peckinpaugh emerge, the Chase secu- with Roller,who was now gone. for the kids to just shut the hell up and would mean significantly less returns rity technician tells one of the police: In the past week, I had heard that go home, watch some basketball, maybe on their investment. “We want them out of here. Off our type of chicken shit response several follow Coach Cal on Twitter. property.” This apparently includes times, given by the same type of low- But if my final image of that dem- During press, so we all relocate to the bottom level functionaries who are always onstration on Main Street means any- 1:30 P.M. On Main Street, in front of the Chase steps. required to dole out the same non- thing, things may be changing, at least of the Chase Bank steps, several pounds We settle in to several hours of answers. Thirty minutes earlier Darrel for the moment. Not many people can of coal are getting spread out in front chants, periodic bursts of MTR infor- Hiler, the Chase security guard, gave afford to get to Rupp these days; some of the five sitting activists. The num- mation read out with a megaphone, me nearly the same answer when I people like to also keep the lights off. ber will later grow to seven and, when and periodic bursts of cars honking asked if I could speak with anyone at As I walked away up Main Street I am leaving nearly two hours later, to their horns. Chase for a comment on the demon- toward Elm Tree, I looked back over ten students sitting their asses down in This last bit surprised me a bit. I stration. “No,” he replied. That person my shoulders to see the Forensic front of Chase. Later still, I will see a expected the stray horns, but I did not does not exist, or do they just not want Services technician filming protest- picture in which I note twelve sitting. expect the sheer numbers and types of to comment, I asked. “There is a per- ers. As he filmed them, the students, Smiling. Happy. cars honking. At times, Main Street son, but no comment,” he replied. unaware at the moment of getting sur- In front of these citizens, another sounded like Fifth Avenue a couple Several days earlier, when in the veilled, began one of several call and group of students hold up signs for hours before rush hour. Sporadic midst of severe budgetary problems shout responses. ongoing traffic. Another rides around bursts of horns, long heavy-handed UK CEO Lee Todd and his Executive “Whose coal?” OUR COAL! on his bike, operating as a messenger horns. Compact car horns, pick-up Board met at the top of the 18 floor of “Whose streams?” OUR STREAMS! ferrying information between the dif- truck horns, even the long bellow of a Patterson Office Tower to rubberstamp As I moved farther away, the ferent small groups. Two more respect- USF Freight truck horn. New and clean a new Coal Lodge for already-pampered last line seemed to mutate, and fully approach ongoing pedestrians. cars, old and dirty ones. Black, white. UK basketball players, he and most of OUR STREAMS! turned into OUR They ask if people are interested in why Old, young. At least here in Kentucky, the rest of his chicken shit compadres STREETS! In my mind, I began to they are standing in front of Chase this this is not a small, disconnected, focus didn’t have a low-level functionary to alternate the two, streams and streets, windy and clear fall day. If passersby group. It is the state. separate themselves from those ques- in tandem with the fading cadences. answer yes to that question, the greet- tioning students who actually decided To my right a stream of cars flowed ers mention Mountain Top Removal After to act on the civic values the school’s down Main, honking their asses off. and Chase’s financial support of the I left the gathering of young activ- practice, and if they are also Chase ists about an hour early to hightail account holders, if they’d consider it back to BCTC for a meeting. On closing their accounts. Throughout the my way down Main Street heading day, most people answer yes to the first toward my truck on Deweese Street, question, at least. They are interested. I stopped to talk with a man from Five minutes into the protest, Forensic Services who, like the several Ed McClanahan materializes out of the protesters there that day, carried of nowhere, beating the first cop to a video camera. He was about to film the scene by a full four minutes. He the by-now nearly thirty peaceful dem- will be a bike cop, and within one onstrators sitting in front of Chase and minute’s time will inform the activ- holding signs for passersby. ists that “there’s nothing wrong with When I asked why he would be [their] signs, but [they] can’t obstruct filming these people, he responded the sidewalk.” Two more cops arrive simply, “For the police.” No shit, I at this time, in separate cop cars. Julia thought. Peckinpaugh, a sophomore student at What I said instead was, “I know Transy and one of the street greeters, that. What for the police department. is approached by one of the police and How do you plan to use this video?” asked/told to clean up the coal from “Hopefully, we won’t need to the sidewalk. use this,” he responded with a light As Peckinpaugh, on all fours, chuckle. I began to get agitated. I hate cleans up the coal, a fourth cop arrives. it when people purposefully evade A fifth will arrive within ten minutes. answering questions. It’s intellectually Marty and Peckinpaugh and some and morally lazy, harmful. photographers head inside Chase so that “OK, so how would you use this. Marty can withdraw his funds. He asks What might it’s purpose be in the to speak with a local bank manager but hands of the police department, for is told that he needs to submit a letter whom you are taping this?” DANNY MAYER to the corporate office in order to do so. The guy immediately changed his He calls corporate and leaves a message, expression. “I can’t answer that.” Lt. Activists sit in front of the Chase bank building on Main Street. North of Center 3

Refugees in Lexington (cont.)

continued from page 1 comes to shove—especially when jobs end up homeless and starving. “But isn’t given the tools or the means to are at stake—we can quickly become you have to take a job, even if you don’t do those things. That, in a nutshell, I America sometimes offer sympathy in xenophobic. Some feel that what want that particular job,” the group think is what’s really hard about the the place of political and social integra- America has to offer to the “wretched was told. The refugees were going to situation.” tion into the nation? refuse” is sympathy, not full partici- have to make hard choices and give up “She feels like there are a lot of pation in U.S. democracy, in the U.S. things that were not essential. laws and requirements in this coun- A Sympathizer’s Life economy, or even in the U.S. health What counts as inessential for a try. Yet she didn’t grow up here, and Here’s the backstory to “The New care system. refugee in Lexington? Individual cell she doesn’t have the know-how or the Colossus” and Lazarus’s life. From what I could tell from my phones, Internet at home, cable TV—all language to comply with all of those Lazarus was born on July 22, time at Kentucky Refugee Ministries, things that link you to a larger world things. She’s always asking for time. 1849 in New York City. Both sides of refugees—people persecuted in their and help you pass the time in a foreign She says, ‘I know it is going to take Lazarus’s lineage were well-established time to adapt, and I need to do it little Jewish families in Manhattan. Scholars by little.’” speculate that Lazarus’s family had Watching her Congolese friend Sephardic ancestry that lived in Spain and other refugees try to navigate and Portugal until 1492. the American system has led Arms to The Sephardim are descendents of question whether resettled refugees are Jews who left Spain after Spanish mon- really given a clear sense of what awaits archs Ferdinand and Isabella decreed them. One of the women with whom that all Jews who would not convert to Arms works has said, “If I had known Christianity be expelled from the coun- it was going to be like this, I would try. According to the Jewish Virtual have never come.” Library, “Throughout the medieval Arms sees the dilemma for refu- period in Europe, the Sephardic Jews gees as a trade off: “I’m sure some were treated as elites among Jews. refugees would tell you that they are Many times they had a secular educa- very lucky, and they feel like things tion and often had great wealth. In the are so much better than they had in 18th century, the Sephardic Jews who their home country. But it’s a trade off: lived in Amsterdam and in London they’re leaving huge hardships and suf- tended to discriminate against non- fering mostly in terms of being able to Sephardic Jews who wanted to pray put food on the table or basic necessi- at their synagogues by forcing them ties, but at least it was a kind of hard- to sit separately from the rest of the ship that they shared with everybody

congregation.” CAMPUS VOICES around them. It was familiar to them, This family history becomes an and they understood how to navigate important factor when one considers A passage from Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus adorns a fun surrounding the Statue it. So here [in the U.S.] all these basics Lazarus’s involvement with Eastern of Liberty, but the sentiment seems largely forgotten. are taken care of, but they feel help- European and Russian Jewish immi- less—and it’s almost a worse feeling to grants. In 1881 Lazarus witnessed the own home countries—don’t show up land. Essential? Good shoes that can feel helpless.” first wave of Russian Jewish immi- on U.S. shores because they only need be worn to an interview. However, with the recession, grants arriving in New York. Jews had sympathy. Like everyone else, they To take the edge off the worry, one things that may have been assured long lived under oppressive and harsh need personal and political rights, the man joked that he couldn’t find shoes in the past for refugees resettled in conditions in Russia, but when Czar ability to take care of their families, at the store. His feet were too small for Lexington—work and the ability to pay Alexander II was assassinated in 1881, and work. the men’s section. one’s rent—are more questionable now. Jews were blamed for the murder and In August, I had the opportunity The meeting was an eye-opener, In reality, it’s mostly bad luck that pogroms—massacres of Jewish commu- to observe one of Kentucky Refugee showing just how desperate KRM’s these refugees ended up in the U.S. nities—ensued. Mass immigration at Ministries’ orientation sessions. This clients feel and just how dismal their when the economy couldn’t welcome that time brought many Russian Jews particular meeting was just before situation is right now with the reces- them. KRM, its volunteers, and its to the U.S. KRM was to have a review from its sion. These refugees find themselves donors are doing their best to mitigate Consequently, Lazarus became head office. As well, at that time KRM in the precarious position of having to the bad winds of fate for the refugees. involved with activism and charity was preparing for the arrival of seven depend on an unfamiliar system rather What the dire nature of the current than support themselves. situation demonstrates, though, is the Earlier, I had talked with Rochelle bottom line for refugees: they need a Arms who volunteers with KRM place that can accept them culturally Interested in advertising in refugees. She spoke of a woman with and economically, ensuring personal whom she has worked: a mother who is and political rights. acclimating to the U.S. while also car- Lazarus’s “New Colossus” North of Center? ing for her children. ends with the wretched arriving on “My Congolese friend has to be American shores, but the question is Please contact reliant on all these other people. If she where do they go from there? Sympathy could just learn to drive, she would be may help soften the difficult transition Danny Mayer so much better off. And that would to a new place, but it doesn’t ensure also then give her more hope. I think that their needs will be met. That’s the at [email protected]. she’s often felt really depressed about practical side of welcoming refugees, being so helpless here. I think any- one that needs to be more recognized thing we can do to help her get to a in our national vision and developed work for Jewish immigrants. Various new families so the non-profit was more self-reliant place will also raise at the level of the social service and critics claim that Lazarus saw a differ- especially busy. her morale. And her kids see that. It’s legal systems. This would mean, too, ence between her place in America as The agenda for the session cen- good for them, too, to see that their that we re-envision why and how we a Sephardic, assimilated Jew and that tered on information about the review, mom can do things, and for them to welcome refugees. We would need to of the recently arrived Russian Jewish announcements about school and feel proud of her. Rather than to start see them not simply as poor souls seek- immigrants fleeing pogroms. work, and addressing participants’ to feel that she’s depending on them ing comfort, but as individuals need- Sympathetic as she was to Jewish concerns. The KRM staff encouraged for interpreting and understanding ing personal and political freedom and refugees, Lazarus did not imagine that the refugees to air, as best they could this new world—it puts them in a hard work—the things we as Americans hold all Eastern European Jewish immi- in sometimes broken English and position.” very, very dear. grants could assimilate to American through translation, their feelings and Arms went on to describe how life. Old world beliefs and a lack of frustrations. challenging the U.S. social service If you are interested in joining education, Lazarus believed, would One man, part of the Bhutanese and legal systems are for refugees like Kentucky Refugees Ministries’ work, preclude their transformation into contingent, expressed frustration with her friend: “She’s being asked to do you can contact the agency at 859-226- Americans. Nor could the U.S. “absorb his language learning and worried a lot of things very quickly when she 5661 or [email protected]. so immense a heterogeneous body as about not having a job. He knew his the Jews of the persecuted districts of boys would be ok at school, but he was Eastern Europe and Northern Africa anxious about money and running out would form,” she wrote in An Epistle of financial assistance. to the Hebrews. A proto-Zionist, Lazarus He was not alone in his fears. Other believed that Eastern European Jewish men voiced their concerns; the anxiety refugees should be repatriated to a in the room was palpable. A man in a recolonized Palestine. yellow shirt said that the International In short, the poet who penned our Organization for Migration had told iconic sonnet about America’s welcome them overly positive things about the had sympathy for fellow Jews fleeing U.S. right now, and the fact was that persecution, but in the grand scheme there were very few jobs. of things did not seem to have faith in Although one man reminded the their ability to assimilate to American group that it was “better to go hungry culture—or have faith that American here and sleep in peace,” it seemed to society could assimilate them. be little comfort to those who had no Let the huddled masses come, but idea how they were going to stay afloat also let them go somewhere else. in a place where they didn’t know the language fully, didn’t understand Living as a Refugee in Lexington the culture, and had no employment. Lazarus is an interesting and Right now, for these refugees the U.S. Dancers perform at the Living Arts & Science Center’s Day of The Dead Festival, illustrative example of the ambiva- is far from the bucolic promised land held annually to “remember and honor family members and to show a colorful lent attitude many Americans hold of Lazarus’s poetry. and mocking defiance of death,” according to the Center’s web site (http://www. toward immigrants and refugees. We Realistic and pragmatic, one of the lasclex.org/). Photo by Brian Connors-Manke. want to believe that the U.S. is the KRM staffers assured the group that Mother of Exiles, but when push their office was not going to let them 4 North of Center Film & Media Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story Exposing the ugly realities of America’s economic fairy tale By Michael Dean Benton 10%. The smart investor, the report one vote (in the plutonomies). At material and social infrastructure continued, will invest in stocks of some point it is likely that labor will was strengthened by these funds. We “There’s class warfare, all right, but companies that cater to these wealthy fight back against the rising profit also learn about the huge corporate it’s my class, the rich class, that’s mak- elites because all signs indicate that share of the rich and there will be a propaganda effort that slowly demon- ing war, and we’re winning.” they will get richer while the rest of political backlash against the rising ized the New Deal taxes, the Labor — Warren Buffet, (listed by America will lose economic ground. wealth of the rich. This could be felt Unions that fueled America’s new Forbes Magazine in 2008 as the In fact, the Citigroup report through higher taxation on the rich middle class, and the manipulation Richest Person in the World, cites an IRS report that the income (or indirectly though higher corporate of the general populace to fear, if not worth $62 Billion: NY Times inequality in America is at its highest taxes/regulation) or through trying actively hate, the federal government Interview, November 26, 2006) levels since the Great Depression of to protect indigenous [home-grown] that could possibly protect them. the 1920s and that it is steadily wors- laborers, in a push-back on global- There are many highlights of Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) is ening. The original Citigroup report ization — either anti-immigration, or those who actively fought to bring a fitting film to mark the twentieth was circulated to only the wealthiest protectionism. We don’t see this hap- attention to these problems and/or anniversary of Michael Moore’s cel- of clients and was not intended for pening yet, though there are signs struggled to defend their own civil ebrated first film Roger and Me (1989). the broader public’s eyes. The report of rising political tensions. However rights from the abuses of the sys- In Roger and Me, Moore examined points out the plutonomy’s greatest we are keeping a close eye on develop- tem. Highlights of active resistance the effects of the decision of General strength is that those who are not a ments.” (“Plutonomy Report, Part 2”: include a depiction of the 2008 fac- Motors CEO Roger Smith to close part of the plutonomy (everyone else) Citigroup, March 5, 2006: p. 10) tory sit-in by UE, Local 1110 workers the Flint, MI factory, which caused are generally kept in “the dark” about The humanity, or genius, of at Chicago’s Republic Windows and 30,000 workers to lose their jobs, and the realities of our economic situation. Michael Moore’s newest film is how Doors. Another moving sit-in takes how this decision economically devas- The cynic amongst us might add that he brings us into the lives of every- place in Florida in a working class tated Moore’s hometown of Flint, MI. not only is everyone else kept in the day working people to illustrate the neighborhood where neighbors join Capitalism: A Love Story catches dark, but that they are actively misled devastation of this rising plutonomic together to help a struggling family America in the throes of a larger-scale to irrationally target others with their reality. We are brought into the drama re-occupy their family home after an economic disaster in which everyday insecurities and anger (immigrants, of families being evicted from their eviction. Significant voices raised in workers are losing their jobs, homes gays, socialists, France, Muslims liber- multi-generational homes. We witness opposition to the plutonomy include and lives, across the nation, while als, etc…). how taxpayers fund law enforcement as VT Senator Bernie Sanders who dis- those in the upper echelons of the The sad reality is that most of this eviction enforcers for the plutonomic cusses “democratic socialism” and economic elites continue to reap huge manipulative propaganda, including order. We witness Irma Johnson, the the brutally honest priests/bish- profits. To make matters worse, the the talk show pundit led teabagger struggling widow of Daniel Johnson, ops who condemn the exploitative Bush initiated and Obama admin- rallies, are funded by the same people an employee of Amegy Bank, learn nature of contemporary unchecked istrated Bank/Finance bailout has who are reaping enormous profits that her husband’s company has taken capitalism. totaled in the trillions of dollars. As before and after the economic crisis. out a “dead peasant” insurance policy Perhaps most tragic and sad, are too-big-to-fail institutions continue to Once again, as cited in the that allows them to collect a tax free the workers who believed the propa- return to the trough for new tax-payer Citigroup report for their wealthiest $1.5 million payout when he dies. ganda of the capitalistic system, and funded handouts, working citizens clients, what the wealthy elites should We listen to the individual story of a now are facing evictions from their continue to lose everything without fear the most is that the ignorant pub- Wal-Mart worker of another grieving family homes. any safety net offered to help them lic will become aware and angry about spouse who learned his wife had been This is but the tip of the cin- out. the true cause of the last 30 years of similarly insured without her knowl- ematic iceberg that Michael Moore This is the major focus of Moore’s stagnant wages, the increasing income edge (or consent) by the corporation. presents us in his documentary mas- newest documentary. He seeks to inequity, and the current economic We learn the larger scope of many terpiece. As always, Moore does not understand and explain how we essen- crisis. The reason they worry about giant corporations who insure their neglect moments of humorous relief tially moved from a struggling demo- the “laborers” awareness of these reali- employees, unbeknownst to them, as from his critiques, but in this film he cratic nation, at least outwardly, that ties is, again, from the report: a multi-billion lottery in which the shows a restraint that befits this most attempted to develop a more equitable “RISKS—WHAT COULD GO employees become worth more dead serious of issues. society, to a literal “modern day plu- WRONG? than alive. He ends the film with a call to tonomy” centered upon what John Our whole plutonomy thesis is We also learn the history of how American citizens; I just hope that Tasini has termed “The Audacity of based on the idea that the rich will we have arrived at this moment. We someone is listening. Sadly the cor- Greed.” keep getting richer. This thesis is not learn about Franklin Roosevelt’s porate media film reviewers have The phrase “modern day plu- without its risks. For example, a pol- fierce battle to regulate Big Business done their best to demonize and dis- tonomy,” as explained in the film, is icy error leading to asset deflation, and the institution of equitable taxes miss this film in order to ensure that lifted from a leaked 2006 Citigroup would likely damage the plutonomy. on the wealthiest members of society, people avoid it. I hope you choose report (http://www.scribd.com/ Furthermore, the rising wealth gap including the revelation of his pro- to investigate the film and the issues doc/6674229/Citigroup-Mar-5-2006- between the rich and poor will prob- posal of a second Bill of Rights that for yourself. It is the least we should Plutonomy-Report-Part-2 ) in which ably at some point lead to a political would guarantee certain economic expect of democratic citizens! the financial giant recognizes the backlash. Whilst the rich are getting rights to all Americans. Capitalism: A Love Story is cur- fact that the top 1% of the upper- a greater share of the wealth, and the Furthermore, we learn how the rently showing at The Kentucky Theater class dominate American wealth and poor a lesser share, political enfranchise- very rich thrived under this new in downtown Lexington, KY (http:// are supported by the rest of the top ment remains as was — one person, tax system and how the country’s www.kentuckytheater.com) Movie review: Paranormal Activity By Stan Heaton and every empty doorframe is turned into a site of potential attack. There My wife hates horror movies. are footsteps with no feet, bed sheets She gets into them and can’t get out, move by themselves, and the movie clenches her fists, tucks the nearest reminds you that subpar teen slasher blanket tightly under her chin. It’s remakes aren’t what keep you awake at funny to see, but it leaves me without night. a movie-mate for anything scarier than As in other movies that use the Scream. So, I use bribes. For her to handheld camera technique (The Blair watch The Exorcist, I had to drive every- Witch Project, Quarantine, Cloverfield), where over the holidays. It was a fair the frame shakes, but it’s not the nau- trade and one that we repeated for seous, puke-into-the-popcorn bounc- Paranormal Activity. ing of those films. The camera in The film follows Micah (Micah Paranormal Activity is frequently sta-

Sloat) and Katie (Katie Featherston), tionary and unmanned, looking on at PARAMOUNT PICTURES a young San Diegan couple plagued the scenes. Part of the horror is cre- by a devious, demonic entity. The ated this way. So much of the movie Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat in Paramount’s Paranormal Activity. movie takes on a documentary style, suggests that the objects the audience but it’s presented as a piece of evi- can see and hear have real world Katie suspects that Micah’s camera from funny moments in Micah and dence in an investigation, and it equivalents. In fact, writer/director antics might be the cause of the increas- Katie’s relationship to terrifying begins when Micah buys a camera Oren Peli goes through a lot of trou- ingly terrifying encounters with the moments in their bedroom. In the and sound equipment to record the ble creating the illusion that the dieg- entity. When she suggests that Micah bedroom scenes, the film uses inter- strange events. esis is a real stage that the camera and stop using the camera, his response is, titles with date and time information The movie succeeds on a lot of microphones objectively record. The “Uh, hello? . . . It’s a little late for that,” to literally cue the audience when it is levels, but first and foremost, it’s opening minutes of the narrative are as if to suggest, “We’re in the middle appropriate to get scared. It’s an effec- legitimately scary. It makes your spent checking audio levels, adjusting of a movie here!” There are also sev- tive technique that made everyone in hair stand up and your heart pound. lighting, and placing the camera so eral moments where Micah’s obsession the theater around me suck in their And it doesn’t try to achieve horror that the bedroom scenes are framed with carrying the camera to places breath every time one of these scenes with jumpy gags and gory murders. properly. Establishing the movie as where the horror happens becomes came around. Instead, Paranormal Activity returns to a record of the real encourages the an obvious necessity of the film’s After leaving the theater and the bread and butter of the genre: the audience to treat the narrative as real. existence. For example, he frequently returning to my own bedroom, I terror of seeing and the dread of not Once the entity begins to encroach gets caught up in the excitement of a started feeling some of the effects of seeing. The audience is only allowed on the film world, the viewer begins paranormal moment and rushes off the movie’s horror. I kept my feet to witness the entity’s effects, never the to feel like his own world is being toward the action, only to turn back inside the covers, and I slept fine, but entity itself. Because you can’t see the invaded as well. to retrieve the camera for the sake of my wife had her bedside light on at threat, you have no way of predicting Despite this attempt at realism, documentation and for the sake of the five in the morning, trying to keep its next move. You’re left feeling pow- the film cleverly acknowledges that audience. the demons at bay. I guess Paranormal erless and vulnerable, and the film’s the movie couldn’t happen without Another great strength of Para- Activity was worth a few car rides to see got you. Every corner of every hallway the camera. In the middle of the film, normal Activity is the way it switches the in-laws. North of Center 5 Culture Lexington burns on November 14 Meanwhile, Jean-Luc Ponty fiddles at the Singletary Center

By Nick Kidd classical and jazz and has subsequently In 1969 Ponty met George Duke 1975. He sold millions of records while led to Ponty establishing himself as while touring and recording for World with Atlantic, landing a dozen straight I’ve never been a fan of jazz- one of the most innovative violinists Pacific in America. Ponty discovered in the top five of the Billboard jazz fusion. It’s not that I can’t appreciate in jazz history. that he and Duke shared an interest in charts. the virtuosic talents displayed on such Ponty’s parents were both clas- fusing jazz with rock music, and the The jazz-fusion that marked recordings—it’s just not my cup of tea. sically trained musicians and music two teamed up to record The Jean-Luc Ponty’s early solo career was similar to Arguably, fusion tarnishes the rich his- teachers. (His mother taught piano; Ponty Experience with The George Duke what he’d made with the Mahavishnu tory of jazz by placing it in the crude, his father, violin.) Reared in such a Trio, a record widely considered one of Orchestra in the mid-seventies. But the first-ever jazz-fusion albums. around 1983, after his prolific run of George Duke was also playing with records began showing signs of creative The Mothers of Invention around this stagnation, Ponty started recording time and he introduced Ponty to Frank synthesizer-backed compositions to Zappa, leading to Ponty’s appearance play over, signaling a step away from on Zappa’s Hot Rats and, five months the fusion camp and toward the con- later, his collaboration with Zappa temporary and pop jazz he’s been play- on King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the ing, more or less, ever since. Ponty’s Music of Frank Zappa (Blue Note). All heavy use of synthesizers and sequenc- but one of the songs on King Kong were ers from this era meant fewer contri- arranged and written by Zappa and half butions from collaborators, translating of them had already been released on into a diminished presence of funk previous Mothers of Invention albums. and fusion on his subsequent record- Nevertheless, the album helped both ings. This progression allowed Ponty artists’ reputations for completely dif- to shine as a truer solo artist than pos- ferent reasons: Zappa was able to prove sible on his earlier records because he himself as a legitimate jazz composer; often played over his own synthesizer- Ponty showcasd his ability to play driven compositions, diminishing his anything Zappa threw his way, from reliance on the improvisations and fusion’s rock rhythms to avant-garde rhythms of guests. free-form passages. On his 1991 album Tchokola, These appearances thrust Ponty’s Ponty broadened his sound once career down the path of jazz-fusion, again by releasing an album built which would grow to become quite atop the polyrhythms of West African popular by the mid-1970s as rock’s music, venturing into yet another cre- growing adventurousness coincided ative idiom. In 1992 he released No with many jazz players’ movement Absolute Time, which combined both away from hard bop. By ’69, musicians the sequenced backing tracks preva- Ponty’s 1969 recording of Frank Zappa compositions, entitled King Kong. from the previously walled-off genres lent on his 80’s records with his new- were playing together with increas- found explorations of African music. visceral hands of rock players who rely musical family, it comes as little sur- ing frequency, and albums like The His growth during this era resulted heavily on muscular rhythms. But, prise that Ponty quickly grew into an Mothers of Invention’s Uncle Meat in a uniquely hybridized sound that’s when taking the music landscapes of accomplished violinist, entering the (which came out the same year as King both worldly (in its African percus- the late 60’s and early to mid 70’s into Conservetoire de Paris when he was Kong) showed that rock composition sion) and otherworldly (in its heavy account, fusion seems both appropri- sixteen. Two years later, after graduat- was starting to edge toward more dar- use of electronics). ate and inevitable. For better or worse, ing with the Conservetoire’s highest ing terrain, marking fertile ground for Since No Absolute Time, Ponty it’s allowed musicians from both rock award, the Premier Prix, Ponty joined jazz’s virtuosic players who’d opted hasn’t released many studio albums, and jazz to work in new tongues to the symphony orchestra Concerts not to dive into the often-tepid waters though he’s toured the world several explore uncharted sonic territory. Lamoureux. During his stint with of the growing avant-garde. times over on the laurels of his back Pioneering jazz-fusion violinist the orchestra, Ponty also began play- Jean-Luc Ponty will be playing a con- ing clarinet for a local Parisian jazz cert here in Lexington at the University group, picking up the tenor saxophone of Kentucky’s Singletary Center on shortly thereafter. November 14. Ponty is credited with This was an important era in jazz creating an exciting place for violin history, dominated by records like Kind in jazz with bop-influenced phras- of Blue and legendary players like John ings informed more by horns than Coltrane. Ponty, like many others, traditional violin. Ponty has given his was greatly influenced by this period instrument a unique voice through- of American jazz and he longed to out his career not only by playing in incorporate his violin playing into the the style of horn players like John language of horn players like Coltrane Coltrane and Miles Davis, but also by and Miles Davis. He soon abandoned his use of electronic effects, such as both clarinet and saxophone and dedi- Echoplex, MIDI, delay, reverb, phaser, cated himself to developing his violin wah-wah, and distortion on his violin. playing into an expressive style similar He has been a longtime player of the to what was being created by jazz saxo- five-stringed electric violin and was phonists of the day. After releasing four noteworthy catalog while maintaining a strong one of the first known jazz players to Shortly after leaving the Concerts American recordings in 1969 alone, influence of African music in his rep- use the Violecta. His accomplishments Lamoureux, effectively choosing jazz Ponty returned to Europe and toured ertoire. Two of his most recent studio and adventurousness as a player and over classical, Ponty released a bop- extensively with The Jean-Luc Ponty records, 2001’s Life Enigma and 2007’s composer have brought him global styled LP in 1964, Jazz Long Playing. Experience. Ponty found his talents The Acatama Experience, were critically acclaim while his penchant for soni- This release was also indebted to were en vogue thereafter, leading to well-received additions to the Ponty cally branching out has kept his a fresh European jazz players and composers high profile opportunities such as catalog, helping Ponty reassert himself and relevant voice in music since the and helped Ponty gain repute as a solo- playing on two Elton John songs from for the new millennia as an innova- 1960’s. ist and bandleader. Three years later, just Honky Chateau (a #1 record in 1972) tive composer and player whose gifts Ponty’s Lexington appearance after appearing on the live record Violin and an invitation to tour with The remain a force to be reckoned with. offers a glimpse of a gifted, courageous Summit with fellow French jazz violin Mothers of Invention in 1973 (leading With Ponty’s tendency to switch artist who’s never shied away from heavyweight Stephane Grappelli, Ponty to Ponty’s immigration to America). styles just as you start figuring him innovation to keep his career alive. was invited to play for the first time in After two tours with the Mothers, out, it’s fairly pointless to predict just He’s a musician who stands on hal- America at the Monterey Jazz Festival Ponty joined the John McLaughlin- what’s in store for his November 14 lowed ground in the creative employ- where he was enthusiastically received. led Mahavishnu Orchestra for two Lexington performance. One thing ment of his instrument and he deserves After returning home, Ponty toured tours and two albums in 1974-75. is certain, though: when Ponty’s play- recognition for being a jazz-fusion pio- extensively throughout Europe and McLaughlin, from England, had emi- ing, something new is just around the neer (in spite of my feelings about the soon landed a deal with an American grated to the U.S. just four years before corner. genre). Ponty’s upcoming performance record label, World Pacific Records, on Ponty to join Tony Williams’ jazz- also gives me a chance to share some the strength of his growing reputation fusion band Lifetime. (Williams had of Ponty’s story, a story that has strong in Europe and the buzz surrounding gained fame playing in Miles Davis’ Selected Ponty discography ties to fusion but has its roots in both his performance at Monterey. “Second Great Quintet” from 1963 Live at Donte’s (Blue to 1969.) Through his connection to Note, 1969) Williams, McLaughlin was invited to play on Miles Davis’ legendary fusion Open Strings (1973) records In A Silent Way, A Tribute to Jack Johnson, and Bitches Brew. (McLaughlin Upon the Wings of Music had also recorded Love, Devotion and (Atlantic, 1975) Surrender with Carlos Santana in ‘73.) Thus, it wasn’t long after mov- Enigmatic Ocean ing to America that Jean-Luc Ponty (Atlantic, 1977) found himself playing amongst some Storytelling (Columbia, 1989) of the most distinguished players in jazz-fusion history, though fusion Jean-Luc Ponty in was still quite young when he joined Concert (J.L.P., 2004) Mahavishnu in ’74. After a couple records and tours with the Orchestra, The Acatama Experience Ponty began his career as a solo art- (Koch, 2007) ist by signing with Atlantic Records in 6 North of Center

Silver Creek to Camp Nelson (cont.)

continued from page 1 multi-colored assortment of fingerling Paint Lick this night were not unique. couldn’t afford to miss our take out potatoes we harvested earlier that week. The intense shadows and insanely time, so Sugar would have to wait for Highbridge, or even further, down the Fucking awesome. Next came Otter’s bright moon reflections broke up the another day. An hour later we floated Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, out into pork chops, some of Rush’s Cumin entire party; we all paddled the twisty up to Lock 8. This time there was no the Gulf of Mexico. cheese and a baguette. Dessert consisted creek alone, in a quiet sublime awe. construction, or should I say destruc- of two small Moon and Star watermel- Here is Rush’s journal entry of our tion, like what we saw at Lock 9. Instead Paddling to Paint Lick ons Pack and I raised at our Keene farm. night on Paint Lick: Lock 8 appeared before us as an over- By now the sun had risen above I can’t remember ever having a bet- “The highlight of the trip was grown and long forgotten relic from the Palisades and mid day was upon ter meal. Life is always more fulfilling the moonlit paddle on Paint Lick for some distant past, like a scene from us. We had just passed Hunters and when you have the least. It’s as if all god to file away in his vicariously Planet of the Apes or The Omega Man. Sawmill Runs, and at some point on the the world’s conveniences only serve to lived pleasure spot that shoulders To make matters worse we espied no Madison County side of the river, the derail what’s truly important—fellow- the other great memories of the uni- direct route up and around the lock. land of Blue Moon Garlic. Now all that ship, community, nature. verse. The full moon rising, the stars You can’t float down dams or locks. was left was the straight paddle to Paint bright, Dirigo attempting to poop off They’re deathtraps, full of undertows Lick Creek. I looked back at the others Pixelating Away on the Paint Lick the side off his kayak, the black ink and black holes. after another nip from the bottle. After dinner we decided to take shadows on the still water so intensely I would have loved to travel the Each enjoyed the beautiful day in a trip back down the Paint Lick to contrasted by moonlight almost too Kentucky in its heyday, back in the 50s their own way. Pack worked hard on his the open river. By now I was half way bright to bear, the glowing ‘things’ on or 60s when all the locks functioned paddling technique, purposely alternat- through a bottle of 10 year scotch and the banks that looked like earthbound and the state paid a lockmaster to oper- ing his sitting position to reduce strain the evening’s third bowl. stars, fish slapping the water as loud as ate each. It must have been a charge to and maximize thrust. Otter’s path It was another moon soaked night, a .22, and when we finally made it to have witnessed the numerous shanty appeared as drunk as ever as his yak every bit as intense as the night before. wobbled forward across the river like I contemplated wearing my sunglasses, a cross-eyed chicken. Rush stared into but judgment got the better of me. I had the heavens and periodically sang out, no more than stepped into my kayak searching for signals, testing for echoes. when BAMMMM—nature called. Having spent most of Friday push- Being inebriated and honestly ing forward and paddling hard, we unsure as to whether or not exiting decided to set up camp early the next was an option, I decided to lighten my day in an attempt to free up more down load over the side of my yak. Clear of time. What we really wanted more than mind and sensing my inebriation, Pack anything was to play and explore. immediately hatched a plan to help me We entered Paint Lick Creek out. He paddled up alongside me and together and paddled a mile upstream docked on my port side, the moon to a small shoals that required a minor light illuminating brief flashes of a portage. As Pack dragged his canoe devilish grin on his face as we floated across the rocks blocking our passage lazily downstream, our boats now hor- and explored further up creek, the izontal to the current. rest of us looked around for a suitable Turning to me, he instructed, nearby spot to camp. At first we didn’t “Dirigo, grab my hands. My vessel see any place to camp. The creek was and I will act as a steadying force while relatively deep here at the shoals and you cantilever your rear the other what land presented itself was far too way, over starboard.” Pack’s fiendish rocky for setting up tents or sleeping. plan almost had its intended effect, as Luckily Rush noticed a flat ravine I nearly went in before I could even roughly 20 feet above the last riffle. unbutton my trousers. There was no He and I went to inspect. What we choice, I had to head to shore. found was the most beautiful of camp- Pack, Rush and Otter went ahead ing spots. There was wood everywhere, without me. I quickly made my way solid yet soft ground to sleep on, and a back to camp and relieved my situa- DANNY MAYER primo view over the creek to a field of tion. I couldn’t have been more than 5 The pack keeps pace on the Big Muddy. hay bales on the other side. minutes behind them. Despite my pad- After quickly assembling camp dling hard, I couldn’t hear them. and stacking firewood, we decided The moonlight played tricks on the Kentucky, we were greeted by a full and paddleboats, the barges full of to enjoy the afternoon exploring the the smooth pools of Paint Lick, sud- moon view over Madison County, the sand and bourbon barrels, or the week- creek, the adjacent field and the pali- denly making the creek foreign. I big dipper on the horizon of Jessamine enders simply enjoying an afternoon sades to our rear. We camped on the couldn’t tell where the water ended County, and a great horned owl to sing on the river. Back then this river had Madison County side. Across the creek and land began. It reminded me of a to us. After some quiet floating and a a purpose. Now it’s an afterthought, or from us was Garrard County, and back psilocybin experience from earlier this slow meander back up to the rocks worse, a reservoir for Lexington’s water down at Paint Lick’s mouth and across spring. I had eaten an eighth out in where we had our tidy camp 20 feet supply. What a loss! the Kentucky River sprawled Jessamine Keene and managed to lose my way above the creek, we had a long slow County. It isn’t often you get to spend back to the farmhouse, which I later walk in a well tended, 40 or so acre Downstream Naked an afternoon in three Kentucky coun- discovered was only some 100 yards field scattered with round bales. It was In the absence of a functioning ties. Realizing the treasure that lay from where I sat to recover and ride heaven under the moon.” lock, portaging Lock 8 required a fierce ahead we took an extra pull or two the mental storm out. My last memory was the sound of group effort. First we sent Rush and my tent zipper closing as I peered out Otter up the bank with a rope. Once one last time into the night. My vision they scaled the 25 feet to flat land, they not yet secure, I stared aimlessly while dragged each vessel, complete with gear, soft flames flickered, casting shadow up the sloppy slope. No small task, dancers who swayed me into sleep. but they managed. Once atop, we tag teamed each boat by carrying, two at A New Day a time, the kayaks and canoe some 250 Rush once again woke before any yards around the lock and down the of us. He regaled us with stories of his other side to the lower river. morning adventure as food was being Apparently, my brain and body prepared. sizzled from exhaustion, as I fell into “I took a morning walk on the quiet the water at our post-portage put-in cliffs and then a morning float on the below the lock. In retrospect, I should creek with an otter couple. They were have taken my time and caught my concerned about me, not only because of breath before trying to reenter my my presence, but because their home was Dirigo. I didn’t. I stumbled forward, in the roots of the dead Sycamore tree unsteady yet confident, stepped in the just below our camp. They swam around kayak and fell face forward into the within a few feet of me and would pop cold, dark water, fully clothed. from the pipe while Otter and myself The intense moonlight pixilated their little seal like heads above the water Luckily the water was only 3 feet guzzled away at the Laphroaig. my eyesight and made navigation very and watch, and watch, and watch me some deep, else I would have drowned. At this Buzzed and burning with desire precarious. Even more intense were the more. I left them some boiled eggs and point I didn’t have a single dry item to we disbanded. Rush portaged and pad- luminescent, glowing, miniature orbs sprouted grain pita bread as payment for wear. I unfortunately left my second set dled up the next riffle, traversed the on the banks. At the time I thought our stay.” of clothes out the night before, and they muddy bank and headed into the open they were fireflies sent to guide me to Good karma! As per usual break- were dew soaked. I had but two choices: fields of Garrard. Pack mulled over safety. I later learned it was foxfire, a fast rocked. We fried the last of Otter’s sit in nasty wet clothes for the last 3 various tarp tent techniques. I helped luminescent fungi usually found in ham steak, broke what leftover baguette miles of our journey, or paddle into the him out, making sense of the physics rich soil or on decaying logs. Its light remained and heated some channa sunset naked and proud. to construct a shelter and storage space is the result of a chemical reaction masala from the Co-Op. I chose the latter. October naked- from the single tarp. It was a chance within the fungi pigment molecules— By now we were starting to become ness was a great choice. I had wanted to for me to practice my knots. Should real trippy shit! a well oiled team. We broke camp and get out of Lexington, to free my mind, we use the Clove Hitch or the Bowline? Amazingly, traveling down a creek reloaded our boats. Our plan was to return to the primal. As I stepped Maybe the Sheepshank? Meanwhile, that was going in only one direction, I simple for this Sunday. We needed to out of my Dirigo for the last time, Otter worked his way back down the felt lost, like some storm swept lotus eater make Camp Nelson by 5 P.M. for take my ass and balls finally freed from 20 feet or so to the water. out at sea off the coast of North Africa. out. That left 11 miles to paddle and a their sheltered existence, I couldn’t We reconvened for dinner over a Disoriented, I could make sense of none portage—all in 6 hours. help but recall the sage observation pan of delectable goulash. I was at the of this. Not the creek, nor the shore. It took our small armada 2 hours made by Harlan Hubbard in his book helm and let my euphoria get the best When at last I reconvened with to make the mouth of Sugar Creek. We Shantyboat: A River Way of Life: of me. I decided the best use of Otter’s everyone at the confluence of the rowed half a mile up its winding, cork- “A river tugs at whatever is within organic sausage would be to fry it up Kentucky River for one beautiful night screw bends before deciding to head reach, trying to set it afloat and carry in a pan with some red onion and a of paddling, my experiences on the back to the big, muddy Kentucky. We it downstream.” North of Center 7 Opinion They shoot…they score! Big Blue’s domain of greed, power, and corruption

By Andrew Battista For instance, consider what sports from state tax payers. At the time, the future of coal and our responsibility journalist Dave Zirin, an editor at The decision to build a superfluous practice as an institution to seek alternatives. The University of Kentucky con- Nation and the host of Edge of Sports facility defied advice from university Instead, it became another forum for tinues to receive national media cover- Radio, had to say on MSNBC’s Rachel teaching faculty, who protested that Kentucky’s coal industry to advance its age for the embarrassments that take Maddow Show last week. Zirin smirked UK cannot in good conscience subsi- agenda vis-à-vis UK programming. place on its campus and in its admin- that building a “green” (i.e., energy dize the Athletic Association while the Back to Maddow’s question about istrative meetings. The latest shame- efficient) dorm and then naming it university is clearly suffering from a corporate influence in higher educa- ful news is that the Board of Trustees after coal is like opening a vegetarian “crisis in undergraduate education.” tion. Doesn’t this decision by the met last week to consider whether or restaurant and calling it McDonald’s. Now, Craft has organized a group Board of Trustees constitute an egre- not their university would accept Joe He lamented that the coal lodge would of influential coal barons, bank- gious violation of the line between Craft’s proposed gift of $7 million and disrespect the legacy of Joe B. Hall, ers, and other Lexington moguls to the handcuffed obligation to spend it the championship-winning coach for form a group called “The Difference continued on page 8 on a new dorm for its basketball play- whom the current dorm is named. Makers.” A Kentucky Kernel feature ers. The new dorm would be required And he argued that the name is just story recently listed these people, many to have the name “coal” in it, mainly plain dumb. of whom turn a profit by exploiting Letter to the Editor because Craft is the CEO of Alliance Their short conversation, albeit Kentucky’s land, people, and econo- As a regular contributor to North Coal, LLC, an energy firm that misguided in its guffawing focus on mies. “Difference Makers” like Craft, of Center I was disturbed to notice in extracts resources from Kentucky and the idiocy of naming buildings after Luther Deaton of Central Bank, and the latest edition (1.12: 10/21/09) that other Appalachian states yet locates its coal, did cover important ground. Ted Doheny, Executive Vice President an essential picture for my essay “A corporate offices and public relations Maddow pointed out that private of the mining machine manufacturer Different Hope: What I Learned in firm in Tulsa, OK. industry holds inordinate influence in Joy Global, have access to the highest Pittsburgh, Part 2” was left out. It was As expected, the Board of Trustees college athletics, yet their five-minute percentage of concentrated wealth in agreed that this picture would be on didn’t spend much time worrying interview is another reminder that we the state. While they could use their the cover of this issue and that it was about the ramifications of their deci- need to supplement our news diet with financial clout and resourcefulness to essential to illustrate the “mainstream sion and quickly voted to accept the gift better sources than cable television raise money for the university’s general media’s complicity with the police and move forward with plans to build coverage. education fund, they choose instead state” aspect of the story. the new “Wildcat Coal Lodge.” The Joe Craft has already donated mil- to feed its already bloated athletics I realize we are all working for idea that private industries can strong- lions to the University of Kentucky department. “free” (and freedom of expression), arm university policymakers and Athletics Association so it could build Craft’s group had the audacity to and, that most of us are overworked push their brand vis-à-vis naming col- a new basketball practice facility. announce their plans during an on- wage slaves in our regular, paying jobs. lege buildings has disconcerted many Yet what neither Maddow nor Zirin campus forum designed to showcase Thus, in the spirit of positive comrade- people recently, and now left-leaning seemed to realize is that Craft contrib- the university’s reliance on the non- ship, as opposed to negative finger- national media outlets have turned uted only $6 million to that previous renewable resource. Almost all of the pointing, I propose: their attention to UK’s “Wildcat Coal project, the total cost of which—$30 university’s electricity comes from 1. Show my fucking picture—Now!!! Lodge” controversy, and not without million—forced the university to dip burning Kentucky coal, and various 2. Print a formal apology to my readers. condescension and pity. into its coffers, which ultimately come university leaders met to discuss the 3. Provide a statement that this “acci- dental” oversight is not actually an act of your own compliance with the police state. Don’t cry for me, Lexington 4. Change your drug of choice when formatting the publication to one that Thriller in the year of the death of the King of Pop will actually increase your attention span. By Beth Connors-Manke was (hopefully) the culmination. who vied for tickets to Jackson’s memo- Once again, this critique and sug- The crowd was as thick as I’ve ever rial did. Those zombies roamed the gestions are provided with love and If I say the name ‘Eva Perón,’ I’m seen it downtown. From Elm Tree to streets of L.A. in tears, desperately hop- affection. willing to bet my North of Center sal- Limestone, people sidled up to each ing to be present with Michael, if only ary (a monthly meal at Al’s) that you other, all pressing to see the dancing after his death. Solidarity, Michael Dean Benton think of a blonde Madonna in Evita, standing at a window, recognizing the Editor responds: people. “Don’t cry for me, Argentina” 1. We apologize to your readers. is also floating through your head. 2. In the interests of debunking the sugges- Now think of Michael Jackson tion that our failure to run Benton’s image at a window, addressing his subjects. was an act of our “compliance with the You know that scene, too. Little Prince police state,” we offer some greater context Michael II dangling over the balcony on the matter: two weeks before it appeared with Jackson fans below. in print, NoC agreed to run the image Oh, the figures who move us. in question on the front page as a visual Born out of wedlock, Eva grew counterpart to Benton’s second installment up poor and dreamt of becoming a of his riveting narrative on the G20. In movie star. As a teenager, she moved fact, this was the plan right up until the to Buenos Aires to pursue her dreams; moment that the author welched on his she did well as a radio actress and even commitment to produce a wrap-up piece on better as a politician. In the 1940s, she the Boomslang event at the very last sec- and her husband President Juan Perón ond, via Gmail chat-line—this after a night set out to remake Argentina, gaining out drinking with socialists and a mere two popular support from the folk, from hours before the paper was set to go to print. workers and labor unionists. At one Benton should have been fired, but since he

point, the masses even demanded that JEFFREY DOTSON collects no paycheck from us and is an ox of she run as her husband’s vice president. a writer, all we held dear to him was the Latin American author Jorge Luis The King of Pop, in Papier-mâché. picture. Far from an act of compliance with Borges writes a story of the country’s the state, the paper’s “ failure” to release the grief after Evita died in 1952 after a on Main. There was the “official” Friday night, there weren’t many photo was a classic case of good ol’ fash- bout with cancer. Historical records Michael, the one who led the 500 zom- tears over Michael, not that I could ioned revenge. show that the country was seized with bies down Main to the new courthouse, see at least. We have accepted his death 3. Caffeine and methedrine it is! sorrow, activity shutting down and and other versions of him, strange ver- and now embrace his ghoulish resur- Buenos Aires running out of flowers. sions. Little children dressed as Jackson rection. He can now lead rest of us The picture in question appears below. In Borges’s story, “The Mountebank,” in the red jacket, the fedora, the pony- poor souls who probably won’t make an impostor fakes Evita’s funeral in tail, the glove. A huge Michael head it to heaven and are doomed to wander order to appease the emotional needs and arms (each part controlled by a the earth in our petty agony. Address your correspondence to [email protected]. of the campesinos too far from Buenos different person—only the gloved hand And that makes us dance. Aires to attend the official ceremonies. waved) made of paper-mache. In the story, a charlatan dressed There was also the shrine dedicated as General Perón goes to a small town to the King of Pop that glided behind and sets up a pasteboard coffin over the zombies and brought the Latin and two sawhorses. A blonde mannequin the American together. On the float, a lays in state. Rural folk pay a few pesos large gold crown with the words “POP to view the body. They cry and wail. KING” was circled by devotional can- They pay to come again. dles with pictures of Jesus on them (I Borges claims that this type of spied one of Jesus as the Sacred Heart), thing actually happened—and more the kind found in the Hispanic foods than once, in various places in the section at Kroger. country. If Evita was the beloved leader of As I taught this story last week, I downtrodden workers in Argentina, MJ asked my students to imagine this in in his death has finally and fully become the American context. Could some- the Patrón of all the undead—the many thing this surreal happen here? zombies roaming the American land- Of course it could. We’ve been scape in their everlasting sorrow and in the middle of it for months, since pain. Like Evita, Michael’s combina- Michael Jackson’s death in June. There tion of unhappy circumstances of birth

have been mass mourning and carni- and overwhelming celebrity couldn’t be MICHAEL MARCHMAN val, especially here in Lexington. Friday anything but carnival, a carnival we are night’s epic re-enactment of Thriller willing to pay admission for, as those This photo was censored by North of Center. 8 North of Center Comics

Creekwater, Chapter One: Fishtowne Brine Manley & J.T. Dockery

UK coal (cont.) continued from page 7 What Maddow and Zirin also neglected to mention is that the Board corporate advertising and education? of Trustees’ vote is just one example of It does, but she should have focused a longstanding partnership between the on the fact that such uneasy collabora- interests of big coal in Kentucky and tion has been going on for a long time, University of Kentucky athletics. Two mainly out of sad necessity. I’m cur- weeks ago, Friends of Coal sponsored rently sitting in the William T. Young a men’s basketball practice, which UK library, writing in the Toyota Reading students could attend if they first sub- Room, a space that’s been subsidized jected themselves to watching women’s by a predatory multi-national automo- volleyball and men’s soccer games. tive company that’s done more to dis- Friends of Coal also sponsors replays mantle union labor in Kentucky than at home football and basketball games. any industry except coal mining. The formula for the coal industry, and Universities like UK willingly turn many other industries in Kentucky for to corporate deals and agreements that matter, is simple: find the prod- because they feel as if they need the uct people in the state care about more money. They are underfunded by state passionately than anything (Kentucky legislatures to be sure, but more often basketball) and find ways for them to than not, universities simply allow associate their positive passion toward billion dollar companies to profit off it with their own product (in this case, of their clientele. They get little in coal.) return. A good recent example is UK’s Lee Todd won’t do anything to decision to allow Apple Computers stop the “Wildcat Coal Lodge” from to build a store in its Student Center. coming to fruition because, as Zirin Apple expands its computing and pointed out in his conversation with music empire while occupying a space Maddow, he sees all things university where hundreds of potential custom- related as a business transaction. Todd ers, who occupy Apple’s ideal demo- hasn’t actually taught in a univer- graphic, stream in every day. And what sity since the early 1980s. He’s a for- does Apple have to pay for such pre- mer board member of IBM, and he’s mium space? Nothing to UK; the com- slavishly devoted to the values of the pany leases space from Follett, another marketplace. corporation that’s purchased prime The sun is not shining bright on space in UK’s Student Center. my old Kentucky home today.