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Hear Jenn Koiter read from SO MUCH OF EVERYTHING—a book that critic Hannah Grieco called called "crushingly honest" in her review for Washington City Paper—at The Writer's Center this Saturday, February 5, at 6:30 pm. Jenn will be in conversation with Dan Brady of Barrelhouse. This event will be in person.
RSVP:
https://www.writer.org/event/jenn-koiter/
"Gonzalez’s work can be found in Catapult, Electric Literature, The Nation Magazine, Split Lip Magazine, and elsewhere. His fiction has been selected for the Best Small Fictions and Best Microfiction anthologies, as well as the Wigleaf Top 50. He is the fiction editor at Barrelhouse and a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Fiction for the New York Foundation for the Arts.
'I’m Not Hungry But I Could Eat' is Gonzalez’s debut short story collection, out from Santa Fe Writers Project, and it’s as fearless and vulnerable you’d expect, an exploration of sexuality and culture and friendship and food. It’s also generous, modest, a slice of who Gonzalez is served up in fiction.
📰📚☕
Don't miss new work publishing at Allium A Journal of Poetry & Prose, Apple Valley Review, Barrelhouse, Bellevue Literary Review, The Southern Collective Experience, Brink Literary , Burningword Literary Journal, Chestnut Review, The Closed Eye Open, Club Plum Literary Journal, Dark Matter: Women Witnessing, and more!
Barrelhouse
Two notable birthdays today: Anthony Bourdain and Prince's album, Purple Rain. I've gone to the page about both, this first piece given to the love of my life three years ago (it’s almost 29 soon, Joe Curto) and the second featured in Dig If You Will The Picture a Barrelhouse collection of writings remembering Prince. In October I'll be teaching a one-day class at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College where we will think about these kinds of refections, Food, Music and Intimacy: A Trifecta for the Senses and the Blank Page. More to come soon on this, DM for additional info.
A Lesson about Trains
John Burl Smith
“I could not believe The Washington Examiner blasted a The Washington Post story saying, “This week The Washington Post published a glow-up profile of CNN, praising the left-wing cable network for all the reasons, including that it has given itself over entirely to personal opinion and clownish, self-serving theatrics.” Mind you The Washington Examiner is the same paper that is a “mouth piece” for Fox News. It has embraced Republicans nationwide effort to legitimize Republicans’ full blown attempt to recast the November 6th insurrectionists as peaceful protesters, not to mention it has gone all in, totally embracing Trump’s “Big Lie.” Republicans have declared a no-holds-barred campaign of voter suppression bills in all states, as they try to delegitimize the results of President Joe Biden’s overwhelming victory. Instigating the insurrection in the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021, Republicans have declared an all-out assault on democratic government. Witnessing the attack on democracy itself, news outlets like CNN and The Washington Post are supporting Democrats, as the only thing standing between Republicans' efforts to kill democracy in America!!!!!!”
I frame the following discussion, as a lesson about train, to add a bit of levity to a very dart and dangerous situation in America, which has consumed so many democracies, as rightwing totalitarianism and dictatorships around the world. As a child, I was fascinated by trains. Every Christmas, I pray Santa Claus would bring me one of those huge 100-piece Lionel train sets. Of course he never did; such a gift was only a dream for the son of Mississippi sharecroppers; plus we didn’t have electricity. Even after my mother and father made their desperate dash for freedom, under the cover of night escaping Mississippi, headed for Memphis Tennessee, my prayer remained beyond the reach of my mother’s ability to satisfy.
Struggling to keep us sheltered, with lights on and food on the table, while raising five children alone for years, my family’s escape from sharecropping, still left poverty hovering, like a vulture awaiting the final breath. The reality was my family’s escape only changed the backdrop of poverty, because we landed in one of Memphis’ grungiest pockets of poverty, “Greens Alley.” My family joined the large number of families trapped in dire straits that could not do any better. Consequently, my family’s economic circumstances rendered my dream an unfulfilled expectation. However, although living in “Greens Alley” was miserably depressing, similar to other instances during my life, time, events and Divine intervention provided means for me to vicariously see and learn some very important lessons about life, and trains.
“Greens Ally” was buttressed, on the Westside, by the Illinois Central Railroad switching yard and roundhouse, and although life there was the pits, nevertheless, that gave “Greens Alley” an upside. I was able to observe trains for hours on end, as I imagined sitting in the engineer’s cab. As such, I quickly became aware of the first and most important lesson one learns, which is that the engineer has total control of the train. From his perch in the cabin, he commands the locomotive's cars and crew. Success on a train depends ultimately on clearly distinguishing between the different parts and roles of a train—the engine, passenger cars, and the caboose. With those points in mind, I present an analogy to which some readers may say, “That’s elementary Watson!” if they have done more than ride a train. Commensurately, I preference the following remarks by saying, “Amtrak Joe” is very well acquainted with train personnel, roles and responsibilities in reaching one’s destination. So, I use the train analogy here to illustrate why Donald Trump’s reelection produced such an upheaval within the Republican Party and the current political tumult they are experiencing.
As I stated earlier, a train’s engine’s cabin is where everything important happens, regarding direction, speed, breaking and control occurs. Passenger cars are insignificant regarding a train’s operation. A locomotive’s personnel or crew hangs out in the caboose, awaiting orders from the engineer to hook and unhook cars, switching tracks and so forth. Apparently, these distinctions in responsibilities escaped or became muddled aboard Donald Trump’s glory ride back to the White House, during his 2020 reelection and coronation, as President. Things seemed to go off the rails about midway the campaign, as Trump missed or ignored signals, trying to switch tracks, once protest began impacting Americans political mindset. First, Trump tried to make a quick transition to a law and order theme. Similar to a quick change artist and without notice, Trump made an unscheduled stop at church to display an upside down Bible. Not knowing which way was up, his upside down Bible snafu seemed to anger the train gods, causing mishaps to plague the Trump train, like lightning out of a clear blue sky.
Next, Trump’s transition to a “law and order” message would not have gone so disastrously had the engineer on board Trump’s train been in command of the glory ride. However, with Trump in charge, the engineer had to await orders from the dining car, where Trump was “partying it up” with his big campaign donors. Trump’s desires to always feel and reflect he is in charge, completely locked engineer out of important decisions and undercut his ability to operate and control the train. Consequently, the engineer was forced to check with Trump all the way back in the dining car, before deciding anything, most critically speed, which meant braking for curves and downhill grades increased as the campaign progressed.
Once, protests along track side increased Trump demand greater speed, in order to catch up with the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited, which polls showed, speeding well ahead of the Trump train. Protesters popping up along track side troubled Trump when his law and order quick fix added cars to his reducing speed and poll numbers. Prospects of the Trump glory ride getting back to White House got really herky-jerky, as Trump screamed at the engineer to pick up speed. Giving less attention to the tracks ahead and more to protesters, Trump’s messaging and communication became more and more confusing. The crew in the caboose, which Trump had monitoring protest, rather than signals from the engineer, left Trump blind to how far ahead the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited actually was.
Trump’s personalized campaign messaging system, meant the engineer did not have direct contact with Trump. This resulted in the engineer having to go through people, with Trump actually driving the train back in the party car. Continually demanding more speed, even though the engineer was the one looking at the tracks, increased hazards when Trump’s campaign started going downhill. No one in the rear on the glory train had any idea what was on the tracks ahead, but Trump was making decisions and demanding more speed trying to overtake the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited. Disaster struck when Trump decided it would be easier for him if he sent messages forward to the engineer by the crew in the caboose, that way he could keep the party going and dollars rolling in. That decision not only delayed orders reaching the engineer, the guys in the caboose decided to wave the American flag while using hand signals, as they hollowed commands for the engineer out the windows.
The resulting train wreck only the engineer saw coming could not be avoided because Trump had the brake man back in the party car singing “pep rally” tunes, while serving drinks to his big campaign donors, rather than in the engineer’s cabin. Going downhill at breakneck speed desperately trying to overtake the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited, Trump was convinced stoking the engine with dollars would produce sufficient speed but did not understand the need for the brake man in the engineer’s cabin. Without a brake man and orders coming from the caboose, the engineer, who knew no one in the rear of the train could see what was coming, bailed. He left Trump driving the train, but no one at the controls. Things really went off the rails at this point, I believe, because Trump thought he had all the brains, so anyone could drive the train with him telling them what to do, ipso facto he put the brake man in the engineer’s seat. Again, relying only on his supercharged engine running on dollars, he believed he would catch “old slow Joe” in the straightaway. However, again Trump did not realize one important fact about train tracks, which I learned as a kid, tracks have curves, which is why a brake man has a job. With the Trump train racing down the track to the finish line was like having a backseat driver for his wheelman, in the Daytona 500, who never ran a race.
Picture the “Trump limited” barreling headlong down the track, trying to catch up to the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited, which Trump expected to catch from behind, while not understanding the two trains or campaigns were on the same track, true enough, but going in different directions. With his engine wide open, seeing the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited headed directly at him, the shock forced Trumps to order a hard right turn onto the siding of insurrection, to avoid getting run down by the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited. Zooming pass, as the Trump party train ran aground and out of dollars, desperately trying to escape the head on crash, as the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited zoomed pass, whistling “See You in DC” headed to the White House.
Out of dollars power and losing, Trump claimed foul, “If I lose the election, it will be because the election was rigged.” That claim became the escape siding ramp the Trump party train took but it dead ended, in a headlong crash with the US Judiciary and Constitution, rather than the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited. Campaign supporters onboard Trump’s party train thought the impact meant they had finally run the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited down, and began partying even harder. Trump’s major blunder was thinking his claim of a stolen election would put his train ahead of the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited, but he disregarded a collision with the US Constitution.
A sore loser and determined not to give up power, Trump chose to go “head up” against the US Constitution with his “Big Lie” of election fraud, which was a doomed maneuver from the outset. Nevertheless, Trump attacked democracy, believing the American people were so gullible and sheepish, they would roll over, like his reelection train, trying to keep from getting run down by the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited. So Trump trotted out his “Big Lie, for a run around the US court system track. However, when Trump’s legal team of Larry, Curly and Moe showed up disguised as lawyers, they were laughed out of court. Even though Supreme Court judges have been known to engage in “slap stick,” they refused to allow the curtain to go up on Trump’s “dead pan” antics.
Unable to derail the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited and keep it from making its last stop, at the White House, Trump doubled down with his stolen election “Big Lie.” Trump unveiled a new script with an unbelievable plot based on his “Big Lie” of election fraud, with an insurrection at the US Capitol, as the climax. Trump plays the part of “Wile E. Coyote” trying to trap the “Road Runner,” before he reaches the White House. Pulling off that caper, “Wile E. Coyote” recruits maligning rejects from the “Three Stooges” that enter the plot from stage right, as “heavies.” Similar to Trump's legal team, these laughable characters, with names like the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, Patriot Prayer and a few other groups with Patriots in their name storm the US Capitol with the grand finale of hanging the Vice President of the United States Mike Pence. Everything happens against the backdrop of Trump crawling out of the truncated wreckage of his campaign train, which he claims happened because he was robbed by “Jesse James” of winning votes stolen from Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and given to the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited.
Today Trump’s “Big Lie,” of election fraud is completely off the rails and unhinged. Trump is like a petulant child but far more dangerous, following his full throated attempt at a coup to stay in power. For many my analogy may seem exaggerated or even hilarious, and that is because only absurdity, sarcasm and ridicule can adequately point up the farcical pretense of political leadership offered by the Republicans Party, following Donald Trump’s dubious performance as a “heavy.” However, the insurrection was not humor, because Republicans are deadly serious. I choose the “Wile E. Coyote” façade to point up the absurdity of a US President believing Americans would accept, as legitimate, such an illegitimate attempt to remain in power. Then stage a failed insurrection as a finale to press his point. Trump failed so miserably because he believed Americans would be so weak and confused, they could allow themselves to be beguiled by a two-bit con man, so completely that they would bow down and follow him over the cliff of insurrection, like lemmings. Drunk on power, never in his wildest imaginings, did Trump believe Capitol police would make such a heroic stand, against such incredible and overwhelming odds, but rather than fold, they stood, like marines on Iwo Jima.
Republican Senators and US Representatives led an insurrection against the United States government, which they were elected to represent, simply to keep a defeated Donald Trump in the White House. Trump’s hair-brained scheme went off the rails only because so many black, brown, red, yellow, white, young, old, men and women see American, as a work in progress. Because human beings are always changing, growing and evolving, it is an idea that is far from completion, so we live on the edge of change. Republicans, on the other hand, are committed to the yesterday world of their grandfathers, a time when Black people and women were kept below white men. Republicans see Trump as their demigod and all must worship at his feet like he’s “Thulsa Doom.”
Unlike Trump, who has taken a stand against 70% of American voters, the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited is facing another “Wile E. Coyote,” Joe Manchin, who wants to drive the train from the caboose, like Trump. “Road Block Joe” is trying to force the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited to switch tracks and make a u-turn onto some none existent tracks, then go back and rescue Republicans from their insurrectionists train wreck. Rather than delivering for those on board the “Iceberg Joe” unlimited, he is like a petulant child, playing the “man in the middle,” demanding Democrats help Republicans recover at their expense.
I grew out of my childish fascination with trains, when I matured into a teenager. Unlike Joe Manchin, who refuses to give up his fantasy of being the “Lone Ranger with Tonto” at his side! 1st Corinthians 13:11 says, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Although to some I may have dragged my analogy out unnecessarily, but I wanted to make the thought of Donald Trump returning to power perfectly absurd. He is Humpty Dumpty, after his election train wreck and his attempted insurrection, Trump lay prostrated with his yellow yoke running all over the ground, as his enablers insisted, “No he is whole! We can put him back together again and make him great again!!!” While all Democrats need to do to save America from the specter of Donald Trump is to change the filibuster, but absurdly and cartoonishly, Joe Manchin continues doing his bipartisanship dance, refusing to support H. R. I (For the People Act) “Lone Ranger Joe” refuses to help Democrats put the final nails in Donald Trump’s coffin. This time, the “Lone Ranger'' is fighting with the “bad guys;” no hero there!!!!
