Last Book Read: Shadow State by M. P. Woodward – A Jack Ryan, Jr. Novel ( 2024 published by G. P. Putman’s Sons ) (see opinion review below)
Current House Book: The Trident Deception by Rick Campbell – A Trident Novel ( 2014 published by St. Martin’s Press ) (see opinion review in Week 10 column)
Current Road Book: Ghost Solider by Mike Maden – An Oregon Files Novel ( 2024 published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons) (see opinion review in Week 01 column)
----------------
I just wanted to take a moment and tie up the final review of “Shadow State” by M. P. Woodward. The 12th book in the Jack Ryan, Jr. Tom Clancy series, this book also had a serious tie in to bolstering The Campus personal as a character was introduced who was making their own personal way back to usefulness. I do like The Campus story, the characters involved and the missions they undertake for their benefactor, President Jack Ryan, Sr. However, I do wish some author who feels they could do it well would pick up the Rainbow 6 book mantle again. Yes, Rainbow 6 is very successful in the video game world but the few books of that team were awesome. We could use more of those stories today.
Meanwhile, Jack Jr. in this book cemented himself as a tactical leader as well as a physically strong character. As he and a senior team member of the white side private equity firm Junior works for is investigating a rare earths mining operation that fronts for a sex trafficking organization who also wants to harm the USoA via making those rare earths not work as advertised. Whew. Complicated.
After being taken down during a helicopter trip (what is it about all Ryan’s and helicopters?) Junior must not only survive the jungles of Vietnam while hiding out from Chinese and Vietnamese killers but also carry around that senior team member who is hurt and infected with malaria. Typical of a Clancy novel, tip of the cap to Woodward, the side stories help to drive the main story to a rousing and satisfying conclusion.
An excellent thing that I enjoyed about this book was the lack of the rush to get to the end. Too many books these days spend 400 pages driving a story to a conclusion only to have that conclusion happen in the space of 5 pages at the end of the book. Woodward took the time here to pace his ending at the same rate as the rest of the book. It made for a more enjoyable read and reflection for the future stories.
Reading new authors with old characters can be a challenge sometimes. I didn’t get that feeling this time that the story was either contrived, pre-formed or rehashed as you sometimes do in this situation. The story was fresh, on par with the other stories in the series and developing new characters to be added to the Ryan Universe as well. Woodward did excellent in this story and I look forward to future offerings of his in this storyline. I also went back to see his previous books and may well pick him up to add to the library.
Shadow State was worth the price and the read. I recommend the book for those interested in the Ryan Universe and the furtherings of Tom Clancy stories. However, like so many books I read these days, this is not a book you can read if you haven’t read the previous 11 stories in the series. If you are just starting in the Tom Clancy / Jack Ryan Universe, it will be several years before you get to Shadow State. But trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.
Observation / Opinion
After a week plus of having my sinuses completely packed and unmoving, I would love to say that I feel much better and ready to take on the world. That’s what I’d love to say. Truth is, I feel marginally better after several days of taking Sudafed Sinus Congestion tablets and sleeping whenever I was too tired to sit up at my computer. I will be heading to my doctor’s office after I make an appointment on Monday coming to figure out if I can ever breath again. Between the dry weather and the house natural gas heating, there is some doubt to that. My gallons of water per day to stay hydrated has only led to more lack of sleep as every two hours requires a nature call, day or night. And if there is one thing (of many) I have learned over the years, you don’t go to an Urgent Care / ER on a weekend. Especially a holiday weekend. I can wait.
Speaking of Sudafed medication…
I went to my nearby WalMart to make that purchase. There’s nothing like going to a mass shopping market to buy something when you feel like crap. The deep parking, the bustle of even a small group of other shoppers, the lack of really knowing where the item is you’re shopping for added to feeling miserable just makes the shopping experience sooo much better. Not.
Standing in the pharmacy aisle staring at medicine packages while feeling poorly is not my idea of fun. I don’t take very much in the way of medicine unless the doctor orders me to. My medicine cabinet has three items in it: 1) ear swabs2) night time flu medicine (which I have to date check before use) & 3) new razors. Yeahhhhh….not much in there. I don’t have aspirin or multi-type oral meds or even old unused prescriptions. It’s not that I never get sick it’s just that I don’t use over the counter meds every day. I’m of the generation that uses duct tape for bleeding cuts. Besides, hose water usually cures anything else.
Not finding the medicine I did want to buy in the aisle (after making sure it was still being manufactured) I went to the pharmacy counter to ask if they had it behind the counter. Of course they did. It was there to prevent anyone wanting to make meth from stealing it. Of course. The young man behind the counter got a package and walked back to me, holding it just out of reach. This kid was 20 years old at the most. He asked for a picture, State issued ID, which he took then held it up to compare the photo to my sickly-looking face and THEN ran it through his register to verify it. I shook my head with a smile. Then, I had to sign the register screen which compared my signature there to the one on my license. Handing me my license back, he asked for a debit card because they couldn’t sell me the Sudafed using a credit card. Finally, he was putting my purchase in a bag, stapling the receipt to the bag and THEN handing me the item.
I looked at him with a wry grin. I said, “It was easier to vote than it was to make this purchase.”
He replied “You can’t be too careful.”
I told him “If I could make meth or knew where to get meth, do you think I’d be buying Sudafed?”
This kid who couldn’t even sell me alcohol just blankly looked at me. I turned to go, shaking my head.
This is the world today. Twisted and corrupted by so many people that wouldn’t help you up if you slipped on the sidewalk in front of them for fear of what might happen that two generations downstream from me don’t even know how bad it is or how bad it looks. Look, I get the kid had a job to do and I know that being a criminal knows no age limits but I mean, seriously? No sense of humor, all FBI-like, all following the perfect training guidelines for a 12 day supply of tablets that cost me under 14 bucks. I think I could OD on the tablets if I took the whole 48 up front, all at once but after that? I’m not sure if things would be ER worthy.
This attitude has to change. We need to shut down the bad guys and pump up the good guys. We need to get our kids and grandkids to check IN not check OUT. To get involved with not only the future but with the here and now as well. Yeah, everything can’t Call of Duty or Madden 20whatever. Life can get boring. I get it. But life is only as boring as you let it get. There should be plenty of things in life that would keep you away from the swirling rainbows and rambling musical tunes behind your eyeballs. If you can’t find anything to do, trying going outside for a hike.
Just don’t get a sinus infection while going walkabout.
The pharmacies can be pretty judgmental.
End of rant…I mean, Observation / Opinion for Week 12.
---------------
Local News Item:
This weeks local story is really a pretty crappy one. But you’ll understand that in a moment.
I’ve heard this from multiple sources concerning the Big Mountains. Par-ticularly when discussing the “Eight-Thousanders, which are the 14 mountain peaks above sea level around the world that measure 8,000 meters or more. Right in line with the discussion of deceased climbers still on those mountains (it’s deemed too dangerous to remove those bodies for us living souls) there has been another topic that has been making the rounds. As my Son is an avid climber and one who has as his first “Big Mountain” Denali under his belt, he has mentioned the multiple problems with doing some business correctly when climbing regardless of the height of the mountain involved but especially the bigger ones. In our everyday comfy lives of home, work and road trips, it’s a subject that doesn’t come up very much. But when you are hanging out at 20,000 feet with another 5 or 6 thousand more to go up that will take you 4 or 5 or 6 days, it’s a very impactful situation. Usually predicated with a very loud pronunciation:
“Oh, shit.”
Yes, it’s true. Mountains around the world are being impacted by the improper disposal of human waste. There are some unwritten rules for how to handle the situation. My Son described buckets, hauling waste, digging deep holes if the land allowed it and so forth. Not exactly planning thoughts listed in the brochures for Mount Everest or K2. But it is something that a climber of serious heights must think of and plan for.
So what does this have to do with local news? Glad you asked.
A news article this week out of Colorado described how kiosks holding and dispensing “human-poop bags” were popping up along many popular hiking trails across the State. It seems “sustainable pooping” has become a seriously big catch-phrase in the outdoor recreational community. It seems that climbers and even hikers (yes, they are different; I hike whereas my Son climbs; we rarely go together) are becoming sick of seeing exposed human feces and used toilet paper along trails throughout the Northwest States. It has become such an issue that “sustainable pooping” advocates are now mad even at those that dig a shallow hole and cover up their deed. Those that just, excuse me, “dump and run” are now ruining it for everybody. Hence the “human-poop bags” at trailheads.
The outdoors community has long cried for a “carry in, carry out” mentality for a natural areas. Which makes complete sense. There is nothing worse than hiking in a silent woodland with beautiful views and abundant creatures only to find trash scattered about an abandoned campsite or beer cans and plastic snack bags thrown just off the hiking trail to rot away for the next thousand years. You brought it with you. You take it with you. Not very hard to conceive. Unless you’re one of those tourons (a touron is a tourist who acts like a moron in the local national parks) who think you can take a picture with a wild bison or walk up to pet a bear on the side of the road. Otherwise, carry your trash in AND out with you.
For those that think this is just about making sure that nature stays, well, natural, it does have a little deeper situation to it. There are tons of bad bacteria, including E. Coli which has been in the news quite a bit lately, in human waste that it is a major health hazard. Not to mention, human waste is NOT what you want to find on your favorite hiking trail any more than on your local sidewalks. Add to that the fact that it will cause wildlife to leave the area for possibly up to a year until the feces has decomposed enough so as not to bother the wildlife, making that hike significantly less enjoyable. Most of us hikers or trail walkers should be able to do a 1 to 3 mile hike without needing to mark our territory. If you can’t plan for that, maybe you shouldn’t hike.
Just to make a crappy situation shittier, there has been some push back on this by long term ranchers and others who populate the remaining ranchlands and wild areas for their ways of life. For me, I think that’s a different situation. If a ranch hand is out riding herd, they’re not going to stop just to hightail it back to the barn to do their duty. Nor are they going to carry around a shit sack all day long either. But chances are, they are going to be able to comingle with cattle or horses to allow for their waste to be properly dispersed. But Earle, Bertha and the boys from upstate New York probably aren’t going to be as able. Especially if diapers are involved. ESPECIALLY if diapers are involved. Yuck.
So there are some thoughts on things I know you weren’t thinking about. And just like the litterbug campaigns from 40 years ago, these are things we should think about. It’s not hard to do the right thing, the thing that makes it all enjoyable for everybody. Is it hard to do? Yes, maybe. But most of the time doing the right thing is a hard thing to do. It’s just the way life is.
What’s important is, don’t be shitty about it. After all, other people DO give a crap.
You should too.
----------
I don’t know if after January 20, 2025 there will be more stories and more concerns about oil exploration and oil drilling in Wyoming but, I think it’s 50-50 as to if we will still have stories about Gravel Mines…like we do this week.
This week’s Gravel Mine story comes from Bondurant Wyoming where a gravel pit expansion has been approved over the objections of numerous residents and outdoor groups claiming that expansion will harm nearby residents and agricultural areas to the current mine.
As discussed here numerous times in previous weeks, market demands for gravel is going higher and gravel isn’t just any crushed rocks and stones. Gravel also tends to be found in undeveloped areas not readily suitable for housing or manufacturing often around nature preserves and other wilded areas on the edges of communities and neighborhoods. And gravel mining is not a quiet or very clean operation either. Hence the conflicts whenever a request for a new gravel mine or to expand an existing mine is made.
So, this gravel situation will be added to the list of issues concerning development against maintenance. I’ll keep an eye on it as time moves forward.
Can I say that I will review this gravel situation gravely as we go? Too bad. I already did.
---------------
National News Item:
The national event for this week is easy to zero in on. Thanksgiving. A time to give thanks for you have been given for the year and a time to ask for peace, health and prosperity for the coming year. It is a time to reflect, relax and release with family and friends after all you’ve gone through to get here, from elections to work situations to personal and /or family trials. You should be able to kick back, smile with the family and start to build what life is going to be like for you and yours next year.
Unless you’re an idiot protester.
For the past 420 days as of today, the country of Israel has been fighting a war on multiple fronts due to an attack on that country on 10/7/2023 which resulted in over 1,200 Israeli deaths and 240 hostages taken that day. Since that day, there have been thousands of deaths in the region resulting from the response to that partic-ular attack. It is the latest result to a battle that may never end similar to there is no discernable start to the battle.
Last year saw an unbelievable amount of misguided and disruptive people try to bend the mentality of the overall American public to believe the aggressors were the victims using methods they deemed perfectly acceptable via protests, riots, public disruptions and general childishness. While it seemed that the start of col-lege school years were quieter this year versus 2023, some just can’t pass up the chance to make the rest of us miserable just for their attempt to prove their point…their INCORRECT point.
One of the biggest and best celebrations of Thanksgiving, regardless of how you learned about Thanksgiving in the United States, is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Rain, snow or shine, the parade is a spectacle that kicks off the holiday season in America, filled with marching bands, floats with music and songs as well as current celebrities which is televised to all corners of the country, military bases overseas and to some countries who enjoy it as much as we do. Usually, the biggest problem that would occur is if the wind is too much that day, in which case the famous ballons of the parade may not make an appearance, much to the sadness of youngsters watching.
Now, we have to add protesters to the list of possible disruptions for the annual parade.
This year, the 98th year of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, in a smaller repeat of the 2023 parade situation, about 25 to 30 protesters moved to sit on the street and unfurl banners decrying the “unfair treatment” of their side in the ongoing war in the Middle East at the start of the parade as the rain pounded down. They were very swiftly, and in some cases supposedly very roughly, hand-cuffed, arrested and hauled off for processing. This year, the police were not as understanding as last year. The disruption lasted approximately five minutes, about the amount of time a slow-moving high school band on the parade route would disrupt the parade.
The police and the crowd seemed much less inclined to pay attention to this nonsense this year, especially since the protesters were claiming the attackers from October 7, 2023 were just innocent people retaliating for transgressions that had been done to them. Most people didn’t buy that line of argument last year. Even less are buying this year, especially with all of the news and videos that have come out as supplied, mostly in live-time, by the Israelis as the war has been fought this year. To be honest, the protesters should be happy that the attending police held back the parade crowd at the start line instead of letting them hand out some mob justice. This wasn’t Charleston West Virginia or even Ashville North Carolina. No Sir. This was Brooklyn By God New York. And this little temper tantrum could have been so much worse. And the protesters would still have been arrested….with the judge hearing “They fell down your Honor.” quite a bit at arraignment hearings.
I’m slowly shaking my head. As a student of history, I’ve heard this ridiculous claim before. And from a just as despicable source as these protesters. It happened on August 31, 1939. A series of “false flag” attacks supposedly coming from Poland at Nazi Germany were launched. The goal was to make it look like a Polish attack so as to justify the already planned and staged attack on Poland by Nazi Germany. These reverse attacks worked and Germany was able to sweep away Poland to overtly start World War II. As history has presented, whether told by the winners or the sinners, Nazi Germany decried so many events so as to try to justify their hateful actions that after a while no one believed them any more. The current warmongers in the Middle East, with their deluded patsies in the United States, are quickly becoming equally unbelievable.
This protest was expected. I believe we all watched waiting for it to happen. And to see what the results would be. Things in New York played out as expected, allowing us all to go back to watching the parade, enjoying our holiday and forget-ting about the misguided people who tried to be disruptive. Just one thing was missing.
Any other attempts around the country to do the same thing.
I’ve seen no reports of other parade hold ups, of any college football game distractions, of any shopping mall antics that were tied to protesters. Basically, I’m saying if all you muster was 25 to 30 hardcore people to flop on their butts and unfurl a couple or three handmade banners, I think your cause has run its course. Take your ball and go home wherever “home” might be. I doubt it’s along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
And as far as the people of New York City, Brookyln in particular, are con-cerned, you protesters would do best to heed the locals at the parade last words to you as the police were hauling you away.
“Fuhgeddaboudit.”
---------------
International News Item:
As I have gone along writing this column, I have tried to find some interest-ing news about science, space and quirky part of world events to give you some news you might not have been aware of for the previous week. This week it is the quirky part of world events that are out here at the forefront. There are two stories I would like to touch upon, one of which I think we have all heard something about while the other not so much.
In the Land Down Under this week, the Australian Parliament passed a law banning anyone under 16 years old from having anything to do with social media. No TikTok, no Instagram, no Facebook, not even any X. This law is a very serious attempt to address child mental health, to prevent online hate and bullying and to encourage more healthy discourse between people under 16 years old. It’s not known how this will be enforced nor will users be punished for using the platforms of Social Media as it appears that their parents and the companies who provide social media will be held accountable for any transgressions. The law has been lauded worldwide as a noble and just effort.
Um, yeahhhh……
As a person who was born and raised before the terms “social media”, “computer”, “cellphone”, “internet” and so forth were even though of, I can tell you for a dead fact, this law won’t help. We had all of the “mental issues” without any of the electronic equipment back in the day.
Bullying, for example, used to be practiced face-to-face, usually with poor outcomes. It was done out of sight and out of mind away from adults. Any hint of squealing was dealt with harshly and quickly. The difference between then and today was that kids didn’t take to heart as much “mean words” like they do today. A punch to the mouth…well, that was different. Otherwise, the old “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” ruled the day. There were no trigger words, no spiral phrases, no taunts you couldn’t survive. Physical bullying was a different matter. And usually, you could avoid that if you were careful and good. Watch some 1980’s movies to see how.
Now trends, those were a little harder to avoid. Television commercials were always trying to get a name on your ass or a logo on your chest. That latest dance trend was seen every week at the school dance or the local hangout. The latest styles for clothes and/or make-up was no further away then the latest edition of “Tiger Beat”, “Seventeen” or “Glamour” magazine. And EVERYBODY knew where to get a copy of “Playboy” or “Playgirl”. That was life.
While this law might seem like a good idea on the surface, it seems to be allowing the people who should be the ones in most control to skate again from their responsibilities in this world.
Parents.
Folks, we have to step up and parent our children. Not “soft parent” them and not “use the rod and don’t spare the children” parent them either. As much as we all want to be a friend and confident to our children, we need to be a PARENT. And that requires sometimes walking away crying because the child made us do a harsh thing to teach them to NOT do harsh things to others. Maybe “go to your room” doesn’t have the same impact today as it did in my day but, if you take away privi-leges like computer time, cellphone time, electronics around the house and such, the punishment will make an impression on the offender. Maybe better decisions down the line. Maybe not the same bad decisions again in a week or two. Maybe.
But laws like this in Australia will turn out to be not only fruitless and frustrating, but useless and frustrating too. If we teach our children how to get along, like the pre-electronic age parents taught their children, we will do better. Will it be perfect? Of course not. But it will be better then blanket denials.
And denial is the perfect word here.
----:
The second international story comes from Britian and a new law the English Parliament voted on just Friday. It is part of a slow growing but gathering world-wide trend that truly only has two sides to it, neither of which is right or is wrong. And it addresses an issue that may impact us all someday, which will change our point of view at that time and at that time only.
Assisted dying.
The English bill, while not final as of yet, when passed will allow for doctors to help some terminally ill patients to end their lives in order to end their suffering. Patients would have to be over 18 years old, diagnosed with a terminal illness and have no more than 6 months left to live. Two doctors and a judge would have to give approval and the fatal dose of drugs would have to be self-administered. It would be a conscious decision to end your life due to your situation. And, because of the layers of situations involved, not an overnight decision that could take place.
Assisted dying would seem to affect a small part of the overall group of humanity. The desire for it seems to result from an untenable position involving both pain and hopelessness. It is not, I believe, a position that many of us will find ourselves in as the time draws near. It would be a very personal decision although it would affect a number of others. Like birth, we think death happens alone too, but there are others that involved while we pass. I hope to never find myself in the situation that I even think of this as a better situation than whatever I am going through. But I don’t get to make that call. I don’t think any of us do. Again, that’s life. Or death I guess.
As I said, assisted dying is a growing trend in the world. So far, several Euro-pean countries, Canada, New Zealand, 10 USoA States and the District of Colum-bia allow for assisted dying to legally take place. This is for the laws of the land not the your fate from your religion and/or beliefs. Those laws also address liabilities such as insurance, debts and other financial concerns that a natural death would not involve. Even killing yourself nobly has to involve lawyers.
Like the Australian law, this law too was created and will be placed into effect by people who it won’t impact. I’m not sure if that is how we should enact laws but it sure seems to be how laws everywhere around the world come into be- ing. Because both of these situations are beyond my interaction at this time, it is hard to have an opinion that would justify my commenting. My Son for example, is well past 16 years old. And so far, knock on wood, I am not suffering my way towards death. So, does my opinion really count at this time?
What I can say is this – I doubt if I could have found two other below the radar stories to tie into International news events this week with more diverse but similar situations than these two stories.
But I’ll keep looking for next time…
---------------
Law Enforcement Attack of the Week:
Two Hillsboro New Hampshire police officers were surprised and attacked Wednesday 11/27/2024 when they showed up at the home of a 46 year old man with an arrest warrant for him for child endangerment.
In court documents filed after the arrest finally took place Wednesday, which left the Hillsboro officers unnamed, the documents state that the 46 year old sus-pect slammed the front door so hard on the female Hillsboro officer that her finger suffered a significant laceration. The suspect then opened the door and tackled the male officer in a manner that caused them both to fall off of the front porch of the house, giving the male officer a concussion.
During this time, other officers from Hillsboro and nearby Deering New Hampshire had arrived on the scene. At least one taser was deployed, admini-stering 3 different impacts. Still, the suspect was able to rise but was then held and put into handcuffs. The suspect then reportedly did a leg sweep to one of the Deering police officers, causing the two to fall to the pavement, where the suspect was finally overwhelmed and arrested.
The full list of charges is still pending but it does appear they will be substan-tial and multi-jurisdictional. Then are there the charges that he was originally be-ing arrested for, which have not been fully released yet either.
The good news is that the suspect remains in custody at the time of this column.
The better news is that all police officers involved in this arrest were treated at a nearby hospital, released and are recovering while enjoying their Thanksgiving with respective family and friends.
---------------
Missing/Kidnapped Person:
As I mentioned before, not all missing person stories turn out well. This week, that is definitely the case.
Bruce Baugh of Rawlins Wyoming was supposed to return home by 11:00am from elk hunting on Wednesday morning, the day before Thanksgiving. Unfor-tunately, he did not return home. And now, he never will.
Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken announced Thanksgiving evening that Mr. Baugh’s body had been found approximately 1.5 miles from his stuck pick up truck. It appears that Mr. Baugh had attempted to hike out from the truck back to a roadway. The exact cause of death has not been released at the time of this column.
It does go a long way towards the great humanity of the people of the western United States that on Thanksgiving Day beginning in the morning, over twenty of the Carbon County Search and Rescue volunteers took part in the ground search for Mr. Baugh. This included Classic Air Rescue as well as another individual who lent their private plane to the search effort as well.
It is never a great thing when a hunter goes missing. Nor is it any better when that hunter is found deceased. In this situation, there is an element of closure for the family and friends of Mr. Baugh. I sincerely hope that is enough to help those people reconcile with the situation. As I have reported here earlier, there is still at least one missing young man out in the Yellowstone National Park wilderness that won’t probably be found before the snow has melted away in the Spring but before the bears have yet to awaken from their winter slumber.
Hurry on Spring.
---------------
USoA Historical Event of the Week:
Another great week of American History during this last week of November:
on 11/23/1876, William Magear "Boss" Tweed, Long Time Leader of the Corrupt Tammany Hall Political Machine of NYC, is Returned to USoA After his Recapture in Spain Having Escaped USoA Prison in 1875
on 11/24/2963, just after noon in the basement of the Dallas Police Station, Jack Ruby steps out of the line of people gathered there and shoots Lee Harvey Oswald point blank in the stomach on live national television, not killing him at that moment but Oswald dies later at a hospital
on 11/25/1950, the storm of the century, also known as The Appalachian Storm, hits from North Carolina to Ohio and up to New England with wild temperature swings and snow measured in feet
on 11/26/1942, the movie “Casablanca” premieres in New York City, which will eventually be nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning 3 of them, and becoming a beloved and revered movie
on 11/27/1949, Maria Tallchief, an Osage Tribe Native American, debuts in “Firebird” becoming the first ever American Prima Ballerina, helping to thrust America into the ballet scene
on 11/28/1925, The Grand Ole Opry begins to broadcast live from Nashville, TN
on 11/29/1942, coffee becomes a ration item in the United States, but only until July 1943
But a major change to American life came about this week on November 23, 1936 when the first issue of the picture magazine, “Life”, was published.
It’s hard today to understand the impact of both a magazine and still photos and how those could change day to day life as much as the re-launch of Life maga-zine as a photo news weekly publication did. At that time, a period that saw America and the World still deep in the depths of the Great Depression, people didn’t get much beyond their neighborhoods and their places of business. That was often less than 50 miles from where people lived. And with vacations being almost unheard of, imagination was all that people had before Life began publishing.
Henry Luce, already a successful publisher in America and well known due to his success with Time magazine, had bought the defunct Life publication with the intention of turning it into a weekly pictorial magazine. Still photos were all that were readily available and already well known from newspapers. For that time period, reading a copy of Life was being there, where the story was taking place. National Geographic magazine was the closest competitor at the time but, NatGeo had pictures and stories of places that most common people would never go, of distant jungles, faraway deserts and almost unknown shorelines of fantastical islands and such. Life had pictures of, well, everyday life but in cities and towns that people had heard of and maybe even visited. It told and showed stories of people that could be your neighbors or even you.
The first cover picture for Life was a thing called “The Spillway”. Shot in black and white by the incredible photog Margaret Bourke-White (yes, a woman!), The Spillway was a huge front to a spectacular dam named Fort Peck Dam that had been built out of the town of New Deal, Montana. It was part of the Roosevelt New Deal package to help the country dig out of the still lingering Great Depression. Not only did this project put people to work but the project was the highest of all the major dams along the Missouri River and it allowed for more acreage to be-come farmed and useful. That opening cover shot and the story inside was a jolt to the American psyche. People had heard about this dam but they had not seen any-thing of it before. Now, here it was laid out in front of them along with dozens of other pictures of New Deal and the dam work as well. It was “appointment viewing” as the saying goes. That “appointment” continued week after week.
As you would imagine, Life magazine reached its hey day before television came along to shut down the weekly newsreels that were shown at the local movie theaters. Going from a black and white magazine to a color magazine helped to continue its publication but in 1972 the decision was made to shut it down. The magazine made special editions up until 1978 when it went to a mostly monthly publication. In 2000, even the monthly editions couldn’t make an impact so Life returned to a special edition format that continued until April 2007 when Life closed out for good as a magazine.
The impact of a picture that needed scale to visualize, that needed that a “moment” to take place and impact the viewer, that needed in almost every situ-ation a fearless and brave photographer met its match with live broadcasts from around the world beamed nightly into your home, shown to you while you sat on your couch eating meals from snack-tables so you could get the news right now. Life had lived beyond its time but led the revolution that we all still feel today.
In a coincidence that could only happen when God Laughs, one of the first stories published in the November 23,1936 issue of Life was the picture story of the birth of a baby. That baby’s name was George Story. Life magazine stayed inter-connected with Story through the years, publishing updates about him as he grew up, married, had his own children and pursued a career as journalist. The coin-cidence came when it was announced in late March 2000 that Life would cease its publication the next month in April 2000. As the magazine attempted to contact Mr. Story to do a wrap piece on his life for that last issue, they discovered that he had died on April 4, 2000 of heart failure at 64 years old. His obituary was pub-lished in the last issue along with a wrap up of his time on Earth. A fitting life story on Mr. Story.
And that, is what we call life folks. Or Life if you prefer.
Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!
See you next week.
RAP from 1000 Saturdays, Week 12
Discussion about this post
No posts