I must confess to a somewhat rare case of writer's block. The cure for writer's block is to write your way out of it. What follows may just be a stream of consciousness, a cluster of thoughts, a collection of random things whose significance -- if there is any -- will become apparent later. Or maybe never.

There has been something rumbling around the back of my brain for weeks. Periodically, something will come to the forefront, spurred by current events -- yet, that something is also superceded by them, and the thought, the germ of an idea goes back to its cranial hiding place.

A book "discussion" at TPM leaves me really, really peeved at what seems to me to be blatant, "revisionist" history. The lack of diversity of those discussing said book is even more aggravating. The continuing "hidden" meme of conservative right that the President is a socialist, communist, fascist, reverse racist. The not-so-hidden meme that the nation's first black President is not fit for office, doesn't know what he is doing, is embarassing the Presidency, is offering policies that will fail, fail fail, that his wife is angry and socially inept. That the nation has magically moved past -- "trascended" -- race and racism, while all the while continuing to prove it still houses the ghosts of the past.

That the 41st anniversary of man's death comes and goes almost silently. That another passes whose legacy was built by challenging the notions of black inferiority and historical unimportance, fortunate to see one of his own rise to the nation's highest office. That a third pursues the "de facto" leadership of the party of Lincoln, that is now the party of Thurmond, Helms, Bachmann, Beck, Hannity and continuing cast of fools. (I know, I know... but it is my stream of consciousness.)

The forgotten link between the near complete plunder of European art treasures, a city on the Rhein and me. A President's European tour where he is standing in a place I once stood. A vivid flash of memory, a reminiscence of long-forgotten -- no, not forgotten, just pushed to the back of the mind -- friends and neighbors. A Google Earth aerial view of somewhere once called home. The streets I walked, stores I shopped, sights I saw, parks, pigeons, parades.  

Another TPM book discussion of a time in early April, when I was there and not here -- a time when the call was not "Drill, Baby, Drill," but "Burn, Baby, Burn." A passing reference by somebody somewhere to the "absurdity" of the institutional and systemic nature of racism in American life. The enthusiastic welcome of the commander-in-chief by his troops in a faraway place where the thing you want most is to just come home. Alive. Guns and wanton killing here at home.

Another sad anniversary of the near extermination of a people. And those people killing other people over land they cannot seem to find a way to share. Someone calling someone else a "liar" and a "blowhard." Other people calling people "liars" and "fabricators" because they said they were somewhere 63 years ago, freeing people from certain death. But the keepers of "history," are reluctant to acknowledge they were, in fact, there. 

Grammar and syntax and tense mangled, stick figures and crude maps, slowly. slowly the story is teased out, pieced together. A man, no, men, my father, no, not my father, men who looked like my father, came, gave aid and comfort, gave free, no, freedom, no, let them free? Different faces, different places, different days, weeks, months, years. People, older, younger, boys then, men now, women now, girls then. Thank you, a thousand thank yous. Come to my house. Meet my family -- what is left of my family, my new family. You are my family now, thankyouthankyouthankyou. You are to my house, our house, welcome always thank you. 

Two movie directors continue a spat. One says the other disrespects the accomplishments of his group. The other says the first doesn't "know" his "history." Left on the floor of a cutting room in an old-time movie studio is the Defense department commissioned footage that shows, yes, indeed, one is more right, and the other is more wrong. But more importantly it shows the keepers of history keep a lot history out of the history books, and out of movie theaters, even when those movies are meant to rally the folks back home. And in trying to find just a tiny piece of that history, the perpetuation of denial by the deniers -- in the most vicious and vile and studious and clinical terms -- is found instead. They pretend to be "scholarly debunkers of myths great and small," but are just bigots in the straightforward sense.

A paragraph in another writer's blog, that ordinarily would pass without reference bothers me today. And the "bother" is justified by another's comment. It shouldn't bother me

It's the day before Easter. Or I should say, it's the day before Sunday. It's just another Saturday, It's raining. and I've got writer's block.  

Today, I got a nice letter from the people at the plastic card with the magnetic stripe company. Translating it into everyday language it read something like this:

Dear Valued Credit Card Customer:

We're writing to let you know about some changes we are making to your credit card account. Effective immediately, we at "The From Sea To Shining Sea Large Checking, Saving, Loaning and Mortgaging Institution" are going to raise your Annual Percentage Rate. We are going to raise it even if you are a valued customer, which of course you are, otherwise we wouldn't be writing to you. We are going to raise it even though you don't carry a balance, pay your card in full and use your card often enough that we don't have exorbitant service charges on an idle card. We're raising it because, as a good credit risk, you deserve it. We are committed to giving you what you deserve and you deserve to pay us more.

You have the right to reject this increase. We'll tell you how that works later. But first, please know that we are going to tie your monthly interest rate to the prime rate so your interest rate might change on a dime because of prime rate fluctuations.

We're going to use the prime rate published in the Wall Street Journal. If the Wall Street Journal doesn't publish the prime rate, we're going to use the prime rate from any other index we choose. And, if we don't like the rate those other indexes announce, we'll just make up one of our own.

Now, we said you have the right to reject this rate increase. If you reject the increase, you have to pay your balance off and never use your card again. If you use your card, we can increase your rate even though you informed us in a timely and appropriate manner that you rejected the rate increase. If you don't use your card, we reserve the right to cancel your card for inactivity.

Okay, so there you have it. We're raising your interest rate to whatever rate suits our fancy any time we want to increase it. You can either take it, or leave it. If you leave it, we'll charge you for leaving. And if you leave it, you will no longer be a valued customer and we will tell all of our friends that we made you a generous offer and you refused, and they should never make you any offers of any kind ever again.

So, there you have it. You remain a valued customer as long as we can charge you whatever we want and you pay it immediately and without questions. We remain your credit card company until we decide that we don't want to be your card company any more. We'll let you know.

Thank you for being a customer of "the Super Financial Institution That Serves the Contiguous United States and Alaska and Hawaii."

Have a wonderful day.

 

I especially loved the part about the prime rate published (or not) in the Wall Street Journal and deciding whether or not they want to use that index or make up their own. And, the "you have the right to reject this increase" clause. Classic.