I've promised myself I'm not going to use this blog to be political except in rare, significant occasions. I'm not sure if this really qualifies as significant, but it touches on an aspect of politics that has impacted me personally, deeply, in the past few months and an aspect that I have made a new focus of emphasis in my Poli Sci classes. That aspect is the prevalance of hate speech and demonization in our political discourse. More and more we have this mindset developing that anyone who disagrees with us is evil and out to destroy the United States. It's an offshoot off what Hofstader defined as the "paranoid style in American politics" back in the 1960s, but whatever the cause, it is the biggest threat I see to our nation's success. If one defines the "other side" as evil, that makes negotiation and working together impossible. Many "true believers" on both "sides" don't like to admit this, but the true genius of our nation has been our ability to take widely divergent points of views and work together to achieve a solution. I had accepted this concept for many years, one has to while teaching American History and teaching the many compromises that were crafted in that convention at Philadelphia that designed our Constitution. But it was really driven home by that old son of Mississippi, Shelby Foote, in Ken Burns' Civil War, when he drawled that our "real genius" was compromise and it failed us in the time of the Civil War.
I'm not coming from a "holier-than-thou" position, I get fired up at times and have called Dick Cheney, "Satan". But, as a rule I have tried to recognize the fact that people on both sides, almost without exception, in politics think they are doing the right thing. We may disagree with them, but attributing conspiratorial motives or simply calling them names is wrong. I pray every day that I won't fall pray to this again.
What prompted this rant?
This morning I awoke to find a wonderful Facebook message shared by one of my Facebook friends from one of her Facebook friends. This was the message:
"Before you talk about some one...THINK! T-Is it true? H-Is it helpful? I-Is it inspiring? N-Is it necessary? K-Is it kind?"
What a great idea!! Now for the kicker to me.
The person that made that post, was formerly a Facebook friend of mine. I had to delete that person because almost every day they bombarded my Facebook page with "Obama is a Muslim", "Obama hates America", "Pelosi is an idiot", "Democraps hate this country", "Demo-rats are trying to destroy this country."
Would that we all follow that simple warning before we talk or speak -- even on our Facebook pages.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Another One Bites the Dust
Sunday night I learned of another sad event for local historic preservation in Minden. Around 1870, four new homes were built in Minden. The Chaffe home on South Broadway, the Spann home on Pennsylvania Avenue, the Vance home on North Broadway and the Watkins home on College Street. These homes were very similar in style, in fact two of them – the Chaffe and Vance homes -- were almost identical. The Chaffe home was later purchased by the Wiley family. That house stood on the site of today’s Regions Bank in downtown. The home was first pulled back behind the “new” Minden Bank building constructed in the mid 1950s and then later was demolished by the bank. The Watkins home was severely damaged by an explosion and fire in the early 1940s and had to be torn down. Today the Minden Church of Christ is located on that property. The Vance home passed through marriage to the Sugg family and then suffered through years of neglect and vacancy until it was restored by the Christy family. The fourth house, the Sumpter Spann home, went through several owners including the Huckaby family before being owned by the Dickinson family, who still own it today.
So, of those four “post-war” houses, two remain standing. However, soon only one will remain. The First Baptist Church is in the process of purchasing, with plans to demolish, the Dickinson home at 315 Pennsylvania. I am sorry to learn this is happening, to be frank, having gone to First Baptist for almost all my 52 years and having been a member for 43 years, I am sad we are once again going to put the wrecking ball to part of Minden’s history. However, no one even raised a question when the topic was presented at the Church Conference Sunday night, and there’s no point in fighting against the powers that be. I understand the church’s need for room to grow and I also recognize that the house has structural problems that make it a liability risk so long as it stands. The church doesn’t need the house; they need the land and the space. In addition, I probably vacated the moral high ground on this issue when I supported the proposal to sell the property at 100 Homer Road for the site of a Walgreen’s.
Just to explain my “hypocrisy” by supporting that change and opposing this development, I need to explain my reasoning. In the case of the property at 100 Homer Road, the true historical significance of that site was not the current home on the land. That house was built in the first years of the 20th Century, about 40 years after the end of the Civil War. The true historical significance of the land was that it served as the campground for the 61st United States Colored Troops when they occupied Minden from May through December 1865. As part of the proposal of the sale to Walgreen’s, a historic park would have been created on a portion of the land to tell the story of that occupation. So, from a historic standpoint, the gain would have been greater than the loss of the house, since there are quite a few homes from the same period standing in Minden. In the case of the Spann/Dickinson home, the house and the role of Sumpter Spann in local education and politics made the dwelling the most significant history on the site. Even though the house has had substantial alteration over the years, it remains the dwelling of a man who influenced generations of local boys as a teacher at the Minden Male Academy and played a role in some of the most colorful and contentious politics of the Reconstruction and Redemption era in Minden. At times like these I truly wish I had money, or power, or influence to change things. But, I don’t , and progress is necessary, so another old home will disappear from the Minden landscape.
So, of those four “post-war” houses, two remain standing. However, soon only one will remain. The First Baptist Church is in the process of purchasing, with plans to demolish, the Dickinson home at 315 Pennsylvania. I am sorry to learn this is happening, to be frank, having gone to First Baptist for almost all my 52 years and having been a member for 43 years, I am sad we are once again going to put the wrecking ball to part of Minden’s history. However, no one even raised a question when the topic was presented at the Church Conference Sunday night, and there’s no point in fighting against the powers that be. I understand the church’s need for room to grow and I also recognize that the house has structural problems that make it a liability risk so long as it stands. The church doesn’t need the house; they need the land and the space. In addition, I probably vacated the moral high ground on this issue when I supported the proposal to sell the property at 100 Homer Road for the site of a Walgreen’s.
Just to explain my “hypocrisy” by supporting that change and opposing this development, I need to explain my reasoning. In the case of the property at 100 Homer Road, the true historical significance of that site was not the current home on the land. That house was built in the first years of the 20th Century, about 40 years after the end of the Civil War. The true historical significance of the land was that it served as the campground for the 61st United States Colored Troops when they occupied Minden from May through December 1865. As part of the proposal of the sale to Walgreen’s, a historic park would have been created on a portion of the land to tell the story of that occupation. So, from a historic standpoint, the gain would have been greater than the loss of the house, since there are quite a few homes from the same period standing in Minden. In the case of the Spann/Dickinson home, the house and the role of Sumpter Spann in local education and politics made the dwelling the most significant history on the site. Even though the house has had substantial alteration over the years, it remains the dwelling of a man who influenced generations of local boys as a teacher at the Minden Male Academy and played a role in some of the most colorful and contentious politics of the Reconstruction and Redemption era in Minden. At times like these I truly wish I had money, or power, or influence to change things. But, I don’t , and progress is necessary, so another old home will disappear from the Minden landscape.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Back from Commercial Break With Requests
Okay, now that I've gotten my ad for my book out of the way, I want to talk a little bit about a project I'm working on and see if anyone that reads this might have some helpful information. In conjunction with a local artist -- I didn't get permission to use this person's name or talk about the project so I'll be somewhat vague -- I've been researching the construction of the old Community House that stood in Victory Park. Saturday I went to Baton Rouge and completed my newspaper research about the story and will be publishing an upcoming Echo about that building by the first part of September.
In this process I've had several of the usual twists that come in doing research. The first was realizing how I lose track of changes, even though I'm conciously aware of when they take place. When I was first asked about writing this article for a brief moment I had forgotten that the old building was gone. Then, after bringing myself back to reality, it took me a few days to realize just how long it had been gone. At the 80th birthday reception for Blanchard Youngblood I had the chance so speak to an old friend, Blanchard's son Wayne, for the first time in nearly 30 years. Wayne mentioned that when he heard his Dad's reception was being held in the Community House he immediately thought of the old building. He then asked me how long it had been gone. I was stunned when I realized I chaperoned a high school dance at the "new" building over 17 years ago, and the building was not "brand new" at that time. So, it was a little startling to realize not only was the old Community House "gone" but it is "long gone."
That building was the site of so many civic events and particularly dances for teenagers over the years. Many great musicians played at that venue, starting with Joe Stampley and including many others. In researching I also discovered at least two new pieces of information.
First, for years I had repeated a story I had been told by a "reliable" source that the plans for the building had been drawn by Minden's mayor at the time, David Thomas. Mr. Thomas was an amazing man, a lawyer, journalism professor, poet and Bible scholar. But apparently he did not draw up the plans, all contemporary sources give credit to two other people, one of them a local lady.
The second new revelation involved the actual construction of the building. I had always known that the building was partially funded by the NYA (National Youth Administration) of the New Deal. I did not know until the last few days that the construction workers hired on the job were unemployed local teenagers following the New Deal Keynesian strategy of putting the unemployed to work building needed infrastructure projects for the country.
So, for those of you that read this blog, I've got two questions I hope some of you will be able or willing to answer.
The first is I would like to hear any "Community House" memories you have -- particularly memorable bands that played there. I was a "non-dancing" Baptist, who was too shy to date, so I only went to one dance there, but I know many of you had great times you might want to share.
The second is more of a longshot, but it's worth a try. If any of you know of anyone who actually worked on building the project, please let me know. The building was constructed in 1937-38, so the youngest possible workers would be around 86 or 87 years old, most probably older. So, if you know of someone that's told stories about this project, I'd appreciate learning about their experiences.
If you have some input, you can add it in the comments section of the blog or e-mail them to me directly at jaagan@bellsouth.net
Thanks in advance.
In this process I've had several of the usual twists that come in doing research. The first was realizing how I lose track of changes, even though I'm conciously aware of when they take place. When I was first asked about writing this article for a brief moment I had forgotten that the old building was gone. Then, after bringing myself back to reality, it took me a few days to realize just how long it had been gone. At the 80th birthday reception for Blanchard Youngblood I had the chance so speak to an old friend, Blanchard's son Wayne, for the first time in nearly 30 years. Wayne mentioned that when he heard his Dad's reception was being held in the Community House he immediately thought of the old building. He then asked me how long it had been gone. I was stunned when I realized I chaperoned a high school dance at the "new" building over 17 years ago, and the building was not "brand new" at that time. So, it was a little startling to realize not only was the old Community House "gone" but it is "long gone."
That building was the site of so many civic events and particularly dances for teenagers over the years. Many great musicians played at that venue, starting with Joe Stampley and including many others. In researching I also discovered at least two new pieces of information.
First, for years I had repeated a story I had been told by a "reliable" source that the plans for the building had been drawn by Minden's mayor at the time, David Thomas. Mr. Thomas was an amazing man, a lawyer, journalism professor, poet and Bible scholar. But apparently he did not draw up the plans, all contemporary sources give credit to two other people, one of them a local lady.
The second new revelation involved the actual construction of the building. I had always known that the building was partially funded by the NYA (National Youth Administration) of the New Deal. I did not know until the last few days that the construction workers hired on the job were unemployed local teenagers following the New Deal Keynesian strategy of putting the unemployed to work building needed infrastructure projects for the country.
So, for those of you that read this blog, I've got two questions I hope some of you will be able or willing to answer.
The first is I would like to hear any "Community House" memories you have -- particularly memorable bands that played there. I was a "non-dancing" Baptist, who was too shy to date, so I only went to one dance there, but I know many of you had great times you might want to share.
The second is more of a longshot, but it's worth a try. If any of you know of anyone who actually worked on building the project, please let me know. The building was constructed in 1937-38, so the youngest possible workers would be around 86 or 87 years old, most probably older. So, if you know of someone that's told stories about this project, I'd appreciate learning about their experiences.
If you have some input, you can add it in the comments section of the blog or e-mail them to me directly at jaagan@bellsouth.net
Thanks in advance.
Shameless Self-Promotion
Well, my new book is now available for sale on Lulu.com and I will have copies in hand within the next few days. I also will hopefully be setting up some local outlets for sales. I need to add a special thank-you to my nephew, David Jameson. David happened to be in Minden this summer. He just finished three years teaching in Indonesia and is now enrolling to seek a Master's Degree in Counseling at Liberty University in Virginia. Luckily, he hadn't left Minden yet when it came time to design the book cover. Art is definitely not one of my skills, but two of my nephews are amazingly talented. David came up with the cover design and I really appreciate his efforts.
Here's the link to my page on Lulu.
My Author's Spotlight on Lulu
Here's the link to my page on Lulu.
My Author's Spotlight on Lulu
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