Thanks for visiting Narrative Nation! Some of the material I post in this column will be incorporated into the book I’m developing with the working title “Loads of Heresy”: Far Right Revisions of the American Narrative.
Thanks, Sean! I wasn’t sure if this is a law or a theorem or what, but Larry Arnn seems to understand how it works.
I hope you can excuse my probably clumsy attempt to explain why the LBJ building is important and does not “categorically suck” without taking three days to educate myself more on the matter. I enjoyed reading a little about it.
This stuff is happening increasingly openly. The New College thing was almost two years ago now. It was stunning, astonishing, infuriating. Now it's seemingly an expected Florida practice. I admire the lengths that you will go to in order to bring this first-hand observation. Impressive, Dr. Jeffries. Who do they think that you are? Do you engage? I try to imagine the scene in the room, your demeanor as you're sitting there. As a playwright, I can't help it :)
Thanks for reading, Jenn! Well, I’d like to know who they think THEY are, trying to ruin the country and all. ;)
Depending on the space I find myself in with the different things like this I’ve done so far, I make a real time decision as to how much I feel I need to engage. In this case with small lunch tables and about six people at each one, I played along doing things I would not normally do such as stand up and audibly say the Pledge of Allegiance, audibly say amen at the end of the prayer that was led from the podium, etc. Failing to put out those signals in this environment would have made my tablemates think there was something off about me. But of course, there was nothing saying I had to agree with their positions in order to attend the luncheon. They invited me. But it’s not a protest, and I’m going to see what they are talking about in their own environment and don’t want to be disruptive or argue, so I clap along a little bit and smile at the jokes (for my own reasons). I also take pictures and notes the whole time. No one asked me why I was taking so many notes, but I was going to say that it was to write up a story for my church group newsletter. I always have a bit of a biography ready to go depending on the event.
I enjoy the improv and undercover part of it. I’m actually a little disappointed that people haven’t asked me many questions about who I am and why I’m there. I guess my costume snd carriage are working too well.
This is awesome and difficult as it must be, obviously the best way to get the real nature of these things. BTW- later it could be a great performance piece/solo show in which the audience hears what you hear and say and the internal monologue that is going on in your head at the same time.
The absence of reason in these “arguments” drives me crazy. Yes, DoE and education weren’t listed in the Constitution but neither, for example, was the Dept of Commerce, although it occupies a building with classical features. Just as an fyi, the J. Edgar Hoover Building dates to that same era as the LBJ building and came to mind when I saw the photo.
The notion that young people can’t make good decisions is hardly new. The vote was once denied to all under the age of 21 year. College students were told what courses they would take. That changed in the 60s, when the notion of the college acting in loco parents also disappeared. Of course their peers not in college could be drafted to fight overseas and they could marry and reproduce. It’s not all decisions, it’s certain decisions. I’m mindful of rumspringer, in which a very conservative group allows their young to explore the wider world before entering a covenant that will limit their life choices.
Again, the lack of reason in their arguments makes me crazy and I appreciate that you can listen and sift through it.
Thanks for reading, Maureen! I love your list of rebuttals and examples! Well said— it’s not that they think the young can’t make decisions, only certain decisions. It’s all so transparent.
Amazing. As a recovering architecture student, "law of the bad container" had me in stitches.
Thanks, Sean! I wasn’t sure if this is a law or a theorem or what, but Larry Arnn seems to understand how it works.
I hope you can excuse my probably clumsy attempt to explain why the LBJ building is important and does not “categorically suck” without taking three days to educate myself more on the matter. I enjoyed reading a little about it.
This stuff is happening increasingly openly. The New College thing was almost two years ago now. It was stunning, astonishing, infuriating. Now it's seemingly an expected Florida practice. I admire the lengths that you will go to in order to bring this first-hand observation. Impressive, Dr. Jeffries. Who do they think that you are? Do you engage? I try to imagine the scene in the room, your demeanor as you're sitting there. As a playwright, I can't help it :)
Thanks for reading, Jenn! Well, I’d like to know who they think THEY are, trying to ruin the country and all. ;)
Depending on the space I find myself in with the different things like this I’ve done so far, I make a real time decision as to how much I feel I need to engage. In this case with small lunch tables and about six people at each one, I played along doing things I would not normally do such as stand up and audibly say the Pledge of Allegiance, audibly say amen at the end of the prayer that was led from the podium, etc. Failing to put out those signals in this environment would have made my tablemates think there was something off about me. But of course, there was nothing saying I had to agree with their positions in order to attend the luncheon. They invited me. But it’s not a protest, and I’m going to see what they are talking about in their own environment and don’t want to be disruptive or argue, so I clap along a little bit and smile at the jokes (for my own reasons). I also take pictures and notes the whole time. No one asked me why I was taking so many notes, but I was going to say that it was to write up a story for my church group newsletter. I always have a bit of a biography ready to go depending on the event.
I enjoy the improv and undercover part of it. I’m actually a little disappointed that people haven’t asked me many questions about who I am and why I’m there. I guess my costume snd carriage are working too well.
This is awesome and difficult as it must be, obviously the best way to get the real nature of these things. BTW- later it could be a great performance piece/solo show in which the audience hears what you hear and say and the internal monologue that is going on in your head at the same time.
Hmmm.
The absence of reason in these “arguments” drives me crazy. Yes, DoE and education weren’t listed in the Constitution but neither, for example, was the Dept of Commerce, although it occupies a building with classical features. Just as an fyi, the J. Edgar Hoover Building dates to that same era as the LBJ building and came to mind when I saw the photo.
The notion that young people can’t make good decisions is hardly new. The vote was once denied to all under the age of 21 year. College students were told what courses they would take. That changed in the 60s, when the notion of the college acting in loco parents also disappeared. Of course their peers not in college could be drafted to fight overseas and they could marry and reproduce. It’s not all decisions, it’s certain decisions. I’m mindful of rumspringer, in which a very conservative group allows their young to explore the wider world before entering a covenant that will limit their life choices.
Again, the lack of reason in their arguments makes me crazy and I appreciate that you can listen and sift through it.
Thanks for reading, Maureen! I love your list of rebuttals and examples! Well said— it’s not that they think the young can’t make decisions, only certain decisions. It’s all so transparent.