Author: Dan Brekke

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Guest Observation: The Cubs

“I suppose I don’t really care why the Cubs have such a plethora of devotees, I know only that I am one and that I find it impossible — inconceivable — to give my heart to another, however talented or untalented, bunch of ballplayers performing in whatever city in this country or any other.”

–Barry Gifford, “The Neighborhood of Baseball,” 1981

(Having cited the above, I will freely confess to what some witnesses saw at the Oakland Coliseum in the summer of 2013. I cheered against the Cubs and their sloppy, incoherent play against an exciting, inspired Athletics squad. Then — go ahead and call me a front-runner — I was back in the stands this past season cheering for the Cubs against the not-quite-up-to-the-challenge A’s. I just need to say that for the completeness of the historical record.)

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Ali-Inoki and Clinton-Trump: Same Ring, Different Game

One of the weirder chapters of Muhammad Ali’s career was his embarrassing 1976 bout against Japanese professional wrestler Antonio Inoki.

A 2009 retrospective on this blemish on the champ’s ring record describes what happened when the bell clanged to start the festivities:

Before the ringing had stopped, Inoki had sprinted the 16-feet gap between the two men, and thrown himself feet first at Ali in a deranged two-footed tackle. Ali sidestepped, Inoki missed. Before the two could square up, Inoki threw another lunging kick, missed again, and landed flat on his back.

And then things started to get really silly.

Inoki didn’t get up. He lay on his back at Ali’s feet and refused to stand.

As Ali circled him warily Inoki scooted around on his behind, like a hound trying to scratch its ass on the carpet. Occasionally he would kick viciously upwards at Ali’s knees. He stayed like this for all but the first 14 seconds of the three-minute round.

That was the template for the entire match, though at one point Inoki managed to drag Ali to the canvas and sit on his head. For his part, Ali threw six punches. In 15 rounds. The event was scored a draw.

Inoki’s reputation soared from his non-loss. Ali’s suffered from his participation in a farce. He also sustained significant leg injuries that some say hampered him in later fights.

I hadn’t thought of this piece of sports entertainment in a long time. But it came to mind last night watching two opponents sharing the same stage but playing completely different games — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

It’s not a perfect analogy. Hillary Clinton ain’t “The Greatest.” She’s not known for her jab. It’s Trump, not Clinton, who’s renowned for his lip and has shocked the world by becoming the Republican presidential nominee and pulling himself into a position to win the election just a few weeks from now.

But in the debate, we got to see Clinton operating, for better or worse, by the rules of conventional politics. She spent time preparing. She maintained her composure when things got heated. She made a point of appearing presidential in the traditional sense.

Trump played a different game altogether, the one that got him the nomination. He bluffed, he bragged, he interrupted, he contradicted, and he interrupted again. His version of looking presidential was to cite his income for last year — a figure he put at $694 million — as “the kind of thinking that our country needs.”

You might judge who managed to stay on their feet for this round of the Clinton-Trump match and who was scrabbling around on their back kicking at their opponent’s legs by the candidates’ post-event reactions. Or one reaction, anyway:

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Oakland’s Homicide Rate vs. Chicago’s

So here I am on vacation. I slept late; or more accurately, went back to bed after my spouse/best friend went off to work. I got up, microwaved the early-morning coffee, and sat down at the computer.

I happened across a headline about a fatal shooting over the weekend in Oakland — the city’s 52nd homicide this year. That brought to mind a conversation I had with a friend last week during which I rashly said that though Chicago has gotten lots of media attention this year over its shocking wave of killings, Oakland’s rate was still actually many times that of Chicago. Yes — I said “many times.” But doing the arithmetic in my head as I spoke, I corrected myself — Oakland’s rate is higher than Chicago’s, though not “many times.”

Seeing the story about the weekend murder, I decided to quickly run the numbers to see whether my assertion was true. (Reminder for the next time this impulse hits me: When I run the numbers, it’s never “quickly.”)

What I’ve done in each case is to “annualize” the number of homicides by taking the current toll, dividing by 9 to get a monthly average, then multiplying the result by 12 to project a 2016 total based on that monthly total. To get a rate of homicides per 100,000 population, I divided the projected 2016 totals by the city population — or actually, by the number of 100,000s in each city’s population. Oakland’s population is currently estimated at about 420,000 (divisor used in my arithmetic=4.2) and Chicago’s is 2,720,000 (divisor=27.2).

So, as of Monday, September 26, with 52 homicides reported so far in Oakland and 545 reported in Chicago, here are the annualized rates:

Oakland’s 2016 homicide rate per 100,000 residents: 16.39
Chicago’s 2016 homicide rate per 100,000 residents: 26.72

Regard those as rough (but good ballpark) numbers. Each includes a few “justifiable” killings — those committed in self-defense, for instance — that the FBI won’t count in its annual tally of homicides and cases of non-negligent manslaughter.

How much have things changed in the last few years?

In 2012, Oakland experienced a spike in homicides: 127, excluding a handful of killings that were ruled to be justifiable. Chicago had a total of 500 homicides, excluding a half-dozen “justifiable” killings. Using the same method, here are the rates:

Oakland: 31.75
Chicago: 18.45

The FBI calculated the national homicide rate in 2012 at 4.7 per 100,000 population. Chicago’s number was four times the national rate; Oakland’s was more than seven times the national rate.

The limited takeaways from the Oakland vs. Chicago rates:

Oakland’s decline is historic, in a sense: Barring a sudden surge in killings, the city is headed to its lowest annual homicide toll since 1999, when 60 were recorded, and would be the second lowest since 1985, which is as far back as the FBI numbers go. (Yes, I could hunt down the earlier numbers and perhaps will on some future vacation or workday.)

One also observes that 1999 was at the height of the dot-com boom, when employment was high and the regional economy was generally robust. Right now, we’re in the midst of an even bigger boom — characterized by home prices that are out of reach for many. Coincidence or correlation?

Chicago’s murder surge is also historic in a sense, with the projected number representing about a 50 percent increase in homicides in one calendar year. Though the overall total is still far below the terrible years of the early ’90s, when the city’s homicide toll topped 900 in 1991, 1992 and 1994, the city hasn’t seen anything like that year-over-year jump in the past 30 years (and maybe ever).

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Annals of Fine Writing: Craigslist Ads Remembered

Every once in a while, we have recourse to Craigslist to unencumber ourselves of some surplus piece of furniture (“What’s that futon still doing here?”) or other once-loved possession (“When’s the last time you rode that bike?”).

For me, the best part of the Craigslist experience is writing the ad. I’m not sure the writing really matters — I think an item’s three top characteristics are price, price and price — but it’s a challenge to try to turns something recently ruled to be terminally unwanted into an attractive must-have.

I’m getting ready to write an ad for a chicken coop and run we want to sell. In the process, I read a couple of my old ads. Here’s one that was fun to write. The item moved right quick, though the buyer failed to comment on the quality of my prose:

Ikea Henrik student desk, $60

An Ikea classic that may or may not have been named after a famous Scandinavian literary figure. This desk played a prominent role in a student’s career at Berkeley High School and may even be partly responsible for his successful completion of studies at the University of Oregon.

Features:
–Classic Ikea design: a Scandinavian thought this up. ‘Nuff said.
–Classic Ikea construction: manufacture of this item caused minimal rain forest destruction
–Conforms fully to U.S. and international safety standards, including Newton’s laws of motion

And check out these extras:
–Recently dusted
–Family friendly
–Desk chair may be comfortable for hours on end

Plus: We will consider delivering this item right to your home.

(And we’ll note one flaw in this stunning piece: The computer keyboard tray lacks a stop and may slide all the way out if you’re unwary.)

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Solar Eclipse Countdown: Out There in Flyover Country

2017 EclipseLike many another skywatcher who has never seen a total solar eclipse, I’m scouting places to see the big event that will, failing a world-ending electoral event in the interim, occur a year from now.

For Californians, Oregon is the natural eclipse-watching destination. The path of totality will cross the Beaver State just north of Bend, east of the Cascades and an area that’s reliably sunny.

Lots of people have figured out that this part of Oregon is strategically located. The owner of a 72-room motel in Madras, along the line where totality will be longest in the area — 2 minutes and 3 seconds — says his place has been booked for more than three years.

I admit I can imagine a crowd descending on the area and the roads resembling something like rush hour here in the Bay Area. It’s not an inspiring thought. Still, we’re checking to see what lodging alternatives there might be up there.

My thoughts also tend further east. Maybe to the High Plains. It’s a different world out there. In noodling around looking for places one might stay out in flyover country, I happened across the following description of a tiny hostelry in a very small town. It’s one of the best things I’ve read today. Here it is:

There is a very slim chance that you are going to visit the Longhorn Motel in Tryon Nebraska. There are several reasons for this, chief among them that almost no one lives in Tryon, and it is not on the road to anywhere. The Longhorn’s primary mission in life is to serve as an overflow bedroom when more than one relative comes to visit a resident of Tryon at the same time.

You will not break down in or near Tryon because, as noted above, it is not on the road to anywhere.

Should you need to visit in Tryon, the Longhorn is the ONLY place to stay. That is literally the truth. The rooms are quite small but very clean. Your hosts, Mr. and Mrs Pyzer, are without a doubt the friendliest motel hosts in the business, There is a small TV in each room connected to the satellite system, so there is a wide range of programing available. If you want coffee in the morning the Pyzers will give you the fixins before you turn in. Even though they have a bona fide monopoly on rooms to rent, $40 will get you the finest room in the place.

Sadly there is not WIFI hook up, but all is not lost. One block west on the other side of highway 92/97 sits the McPherson County public school. The school has a nice strong signal to which you can connect if you park near the handicapped parking spots along the highway in front of the school.

The Longhorn does not provide breakfast but just a block and a half west you will find Aunt Bea’s Restaurant. Aunt Bea is a middle aged gentleman who fires up the grill about 9 each morning and can whip you up a sausage breakfast that should make Ronald MacDonald hide his head in shame.

As I said before, you are probably not going to be in or near Tryon, but if you are, you will experience first hand the friendly nature of the folks who live in Nebraska’s fabulous Sandhills. If you do not know what the Sandhills are – you do need to get out more.

Room Tip: All the rooms are good but #3 is the best among equals!

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Rules

924 Gilman, Berkeley.
924 Gilman, Berkeley.

From 924 Gilman, Berkeley’s landmark all-ages music club. Among the rules:

  • No violence.
  • No fucked-up behavior.
  • No racism.
  • No misogyny/sexism.
  • No homophobia.
  • No transphobia.

These would work just as well outside the club, too.

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Mapping a Mosquito

Recently, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC, for short) publicized statistics and maps on where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is found across the United States; or rather, where the species has been found in monitoring going back to the mid-1990s.

Aedes aegypti is in the news because it’s been identified as the primary vector of the Zika virus. (Among things I didn’t know until I sat down to write this just now: The virus was first detected in a rhesus monkey in Uganda in 1947; the first human case was reported, again in Uganda, in 1952, and the first major outbreak was recorded in 2007 on the Pacific island of Yap, about 1,200 miles east-southeast of Manila (or 4,300 miles west-southwest of Honolulu, if you want to get all America-centric; it is a very big ocean out there).

But back to the Zika and the data the CDC put out. The statistics, compiled by a team of researchers from the CDC and Colorado State University, showed that Aedes aegypti had been found in 13 of California’s 58 counties since 1996 (in fact, all the reports appear to be from 2001 or later). In most cases, the mosquito has been found in just one or two or three years. In one case — Los Angeles County — Aedes aegypti has turned up in nine years since 2001, including every year from 2011 through 2015.

Anyway. Why was I paying attention to this? A colleague at work wanted to make a more informative map than those published along with the Oxford Journal of Medical Entomology article that carried the CDC data. I sort of pointed her to what she’d need to do, and another staffer helped her make a finished version.

Me? I started noodling around and came up with the very slightly refined map above.

Of course, looking more closely at what the CDC scientists had to say, I see there’s another mosquito I should be mapping, too: Aedes albopictus. As The Atlantic reported in May, scientists in Mexico recently detected the Zika virus in this second species.

Has it been found in California? Yes. According to the CDC researchers’ data, Aedes albopictus has been found in eight counties since 2001. In rough south to north order, they’re San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern, Santa Clara, San Mateo and San Joaquin. Notable: This mosquito was found in Kern, L.A., Orange, San Diego and San Bernardino counties last year; it hasn’t been detected in the more northerly counties since 2003. (The California Department of Public Health has published a map, which is says is updated weekly, of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus detection sites from 2011 through this year.)

Maybe I’ll do a map with layers so we can see both species. That’s a project for another day, though.

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Same Store, New Location

For years, this blog has been hosted on Typepad. The virtue of publishing it there has been I could pretty much write my text and slap my pictures into a post editor, hit a button, and forget about everything. The service has always worked reasonably well and in recent years seems to have had far fewer of the outages and hiccups that once afflicted it.

And I’m not sure why I’m going away from it now, except for the monthly bill of 13 dollars and something. Do I  really need to spend that money, or could I do better?  Especially when I, like so many people, have moved to other platforms for sharing our favorite links, insights, bons mots and car-crash videos. I’ve thought about going to WordPress, and today and tonight, that’s what’s happened. I opened a web hosting account, installed WordPress there, and am in the process of importing my Typepad files there.

And speaking of those files: I am hardly the most prolific of diarists or bloggers, but the posts go back to November 2003, and there are 2,600 of them, along with 3,600 comments. If nothing else, a pretty significant chunk of history. For a while, anyway, I plan to keep it going. Maybe this will just be an archive, or maybe I’ll figure out some other direction to take this long, long project.

Thanks for still reading.

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Heat

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”

— Raymond Chandler, “Red Wind”

***

“It was past noon, and very hot. The bar was full of reflected river light, with dancing veins of gold. … The light was the light of the very early afternoon — everything stoked up, the blaze got truly going, but with a hint of the blaze about to consume itself.”

— V.S. Naipaul, “A Bend in the River”

***

“Gimme Swelter”

— New York Daily News

***

BERGEN-EASTERN PASSAIC-ESSEX-HUDSON-UNION-

1142 AM EDT TUE JUL 18 2006

AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING.

HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL TOP OUT IN THE UPPER 90S TO AROUND 100 DEGREES TODAY…WITH HEAT INDICES REACHING 105 TO 107 DEGREES DURING THE AFTERNOON. MAKE PLANS TO CHECK ON THOSE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE HEAT SUCH AS THE ELDERLY AND VERY YOUNG. PETS WILL ALSO NEED YOUR SPECIAL ATTENTION DURING THIS TIME.

AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN HIGH HUMIDITIES ARE EXPECTED TO COMBINE WITH HOT TEMPERATURES TO MAKE IT FEEL LIKE IT IS 105 DEGREES OR GREATER. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS…STAY IN AN

AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM…STAY OUT OF THE SUN…AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS.

— Excessive Heat Warning for northeastern New Jersey

***

URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ

342 PM EDT TUE JUL 18 2006

…EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM EDT THIS EVENING…

A VERY HOT AND HUMID AIR MASS WILL REMAIN OVER OUR REGION EARLY THIS EVENING. THE COMBINATION OF THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY WILL RESULT IN DANGEROUS CONDITIONS. THE HEAT WILL DIMINISH AFTER SUNSET. HOWEVER, HUMIDITY WILL STILL REMAIN UNCOMFORTABLE. …

STAY PREPARED FOR THE HEAT. WEAR LOOSE FITTING AND LIGHT COLORED CLOTHING. DRINK PLENTY OF NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES TO PREVENT DEHYDRATION. IF POSSIBLE, AVOID STRENUOUS ACTIVITY DURING THE

HOTTEST PART OF THE DAY, WHICH IS TYPICALLY BETWEEN 1:00 AND 6:00 PM.

REMEMBER THAT THE ELDERLY, THE INFIRM AND THE VERY YOUNG ARE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO HEAT RELATED HEALTH PROBLEMS. BE SURE TO CHECK ON YOUR ELDERLY NEIGHBORS AND RELATIVES.

MAKE PROVISIONS FOR PETS AND ANIMALS BY INSURING THAT THEY HAVE PLENTY OF COOL WATER TO DRINK AND SHADE IN WHICH TO REST.

— Excessive Heat Warning, Philadelphia Area

***

URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC

334 PM EDT TUE JUL 18 2006

… THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER WHEN THE WEATHER TURNS HOT IS TO DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS. WATER IS YOUR BEST CHOICE AS IT PREVENTS DEHYDRATION. IF YOU ARE WORKING OR EXERCISING OUTSIDE AND FEEL DIZZY OR ARE GETTING MUSCLE CRAMPS…STOP IMMEDIATELY AND SEEK MEDICAL HELP. THE ELDERLY AND YOUNG ARE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE TO HEAT RELATED INJURIES…CHECK ON THEM OFTEN. NEVER LEAVE PETS UNATTENDED IN AUTOMOBILES – TEMPERATURES CAN SOAR TO 130 DEGREES IN A MATTER OF MINUTES.

–Heat Advisory for Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area

***

URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WAKEFIELD VA

1136 AM EDT TUE JUL 18 2006

… A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE POSSIBLE. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS…STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM…STAY OUT OF THE DIRECT SUNLIGHT…AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS.

THE ELDERLY…YOUNG CHILDREN…PETS…AND LIVESTOCK ARE THE MOST LIKELY TO BE IMPACTED BY HEAT RELATED ILLNESSES AND DEHYDRATION. CAUTION SHOULD BE EXERCISED IF YOU PLAN TO BE OUTSIDE. DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. LIMIT YOUR EXPOSURE TO DIRECT SUNLIGHT…USE SUNSCREEN AND WEAR LIGHT COLORED CLOTHING.

Heat Advisory for central and southern Virginia and North Carolina

***

URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO

118 PM CDT TUE JUL 18 2006

.HIGH TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN IN THE 90S SINCE LAST WEDNESDAY… AND VERY HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST THROUGH TOMORROW AND THURSDAY. THE LAST TWO DAYS HAVE BEEN ESPECIALLY BRUTAL… WITH MANY LOCATIONS IN KANSAS AND MISSOURI REPORTING 100 DEGREE TEMPERATURES WITH HIGH LEVELS OF HUMIDITY. WITH DAY AFTER DAY OF EXCESSIVE HEAT… THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF THE OPPRESSIVE CONDITIONS WILL TAKE ITS TOLL ON THE ELDERLY AND PEOPLE WITH POOR HEALTH. …

AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY IS EXPECTED TO RESULT IN HEAT INDICES EXCEEDING 105 DEGREES FOR AT LEAST 3 HOURS…FOR THREE OR MORE CONSECUTIVE DAYS. AVOID PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO THE HEAT…AND BE SURE TO DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. ALSO AVOID ANY STRENUOUS OUTDOOR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY…PARTICULARLY DURING THE HOTTEST AFTERNOON HOURS.

CHILDREN…THE ELDERLY…AND PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC ILLNESSES…ARE USUALLY THE FIRST TO SUFFER FROM THE HEAT. HEAT EXHAUSTION…OR IN EXTREME CASES HEAT STROKE…MAY RESULT FROM PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO THESE CONDITIONS. BE SURE TO PERIODICALLY CHECK ON PEOPLE WHO ARE MOST AT RISK. SEEK OUT AN AIR CONDITIONED LOCATION DURING THE HOTTEST PART OF THE DAY. IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW DOES NOT HAVE ACCESS TO AIR CONDITIONING…CONTACT YOUR LOCAL OFFICIALS TO INQUIRE ABOUT THE AVAILABILITY OF COOLING CENTERS IN YOUR AREA.

Excessive Heat Warning, Kansas City area

***

URGENT – WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO

457 AM CDT TUE JUL 18 2006

… FOR THOSE LIVING IN NON-AIR CONDITIONED BUILDINGS…THE DANGERS OF HEAT RELATED ILLNESSES WILL BE INCREASING DRAMATICALLY OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS BECAUSE OF THE PERSISTENT HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS. FROM TIME TO TIME…BE SURE TO CHECK ON FRIENDS AND RELATIVES THAT DO NOT HAVE AIR CONDITIONING…ESPECIALLY IF THEY LIVE ALONE. OPEN WINDOWS AND USE FANS TO MOVE THE AIR…AND IF POSSIBLE TRY TO GO TO AN AIR CONDITIONED LOCATION FOR A FEW HOURS EACH DAY TO GIVE YOUR BODY A BREAK FROM THE HEAT. …

IF YOU HAVE AIR-CONDITIONING…USE IT! IF COST IS A CONCERN…UTILITIES AND OTHER LOCAL AGENCIES WILL BE ABLE TO HELP WITH THE ADDED EXPENSE. FOR PEOPLE IN THE ST. LOUIS METROPOLITAN AREA NEEDING INFORMATION ON COOLING CENTERS OR ENERGY ASSISTANCE RELATED TO THE EXCESSIVE HEAT…YOU CAN CALL OPERATION WEATHER SURVIVAL AT THE UNITED WAY OF GREATER ST. LOUIS. THE NUMBER IS 800-427-4626.

Excessive Heat Warning for east-central Missouri and west-central Illinois

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A Teacher (2)

A few years ago, another former teacher of mine, Mort Castle — also a longtime friend of G.E. Smith — helped G.E. pull together the hundreds of poems he had written since he was a boy in central Illinois and select some to be self-published in what turned out to be a pretty hefty volume called “Long Trails from Pleasant Hill.”

Longtrails
At various times, G.E. talked about his youthful ambition to be a writer. Most of the time he was dismissive of his own efforts, though occasionally he would talk about the factors that led him in other directions. For instance, that other writers had already said what he wanted to say, except better (published writers are the ones who realize this and keep going anyway). More significantly: His teaching absorbed so much of his time, intellectual energy and creative attention he didn’t really have the resources to follow his writing seriously. That was not an excuse: He poured all of himself into his classes and students, to the point where the demands he placed on himself brought him to and beyond the point of exhaustion. As Mort remembered in his little introduction to “Long Trails”:

“In 1968, I was Smith’s student teacher. I saw him in action, ‘grading papers,’ and it was not a quick-scrawl ‘Nice figure of speech’ here and ‘comma splice’ there. Not infrequently, a student who handed in a two-page paper received four pages of comment, comment not limited to correcting apostrophe goofs and refining expression, but personal commentary, a Smithian response to what was said and how it was said.”

Still, G.E. had the 800 or so poems, maybe in a picturesque heap that he thought of as organization, probably piled in the post-World War II semi-finished concrete-shell basement of his co-op apartment unit at 134 Dogwood in Park Forest. They probably would have stayed that way except for Mort and a change in G.E.’s own thinking about what his writing represented. “After I left college, I had no interest in publishing my poetry,” he wrote in his book’s preface. “It wasn’t until I began to think, as a genealogist, about how anything written by ancient relatives — even in signature — was (or could have been) so extraordinarily precious that I decided to consider publishing. I realized that I, too, someday, would likely be a long-ago ancient relative to someone who was pursuing my family history.”

So he and Mort brought out the book. I’d like to say that when it arrived here in Berkeley a few years back, I dove into it. But I didn’t. G.E. wrote a long inscription that thanked me, for among other things tracking down a copy of an obscure futurist novel that he had read while sailing from Europe to the Pacific as a Navy Seabee during World War II. I flipped through the book and stopped at a few of the poems. I probably found the project of reading more than a little overwhelming; and I’m sure I also had a tinge of envy and regret that I was holding yet another book by someone I knew while I myself had produced — what, exactly? (If I had ever said anything like that to G.E., he would have had something reassuring to say, then maybe started a conversation about why exactly I thought writing a book was important. Mort would have just said to sit down and start writing if I wanted to publish a book.)

G.E.’s funeral is tomorrow, down in the town where he went to and first taught in high school, Lexington. Afterward, I imagine there will be a long, long procession out to the tiny cemetery in his real hometown, Pleasant Hill, about three miles away. It will be by far the biggest event that would-be city, which started withering when the railroads bypassed it in the 1850s, has ever seen. G.E. and his grandfather and probably many others to whom he unearthed family ties have been cemetery caretakers there; we visited the spot together a couple of times a good 30 years ago; I think I was aware even then, when he was younger than I am now, that this was where G.E. hoped to come back to; not a patch of dirt in a swath of farm and prairie, but a place where his people were.

Feeling sad about the prospect of missing G.E.’s funeral, I picked up his book of poems. I thought, there’s got to be something in there where he talks about his own passing. I turned to the back of the book, to the section whimsically titled “Fear, Aging and Death.” And found this, dated 1990:

Grave Notes from the Underground

When I am dead,
who will enter this quiet sanctuary
and, speaking softly,
(Don’t shout!
I’m not deaf, you know.)
tell me the news I want to know?

Did the Cardinals win last night–
and who was the winning pitcher?

Did the bluebirds sing this spring
on the trail along Bluebird Lane?

Has the Big One ever struck
San Andreas or New Madrid faults?
(And am I safe in Pleasant Hill?)

Have politicos on Capitol Hill
yet understood the limits …
… and limitations … of capitalism?

Do my friends I loved so much
… just once in a while, perhaps …
call or visit each other?

From the knoll and the gnarl of Old Flat-top,
does anyone ever watch, as I once did,
the sunsets west of the sanctuary?
Or the April sunrise on the trail
as it enters Canary Clearing?

Does a cool breeze still stir the air
under the sinuous branches of Old Flat-top?

Do Browns and Boggs still gather
for reunions in July?
(Or do they go their separate ways,
ignorant of the roots that nourished them?)

Is warmth still there at one-three-four
on Dogwood Drive?
Is someone nurturing those
in need of nurturing?

Who came to say goodbye
as I lay freshly dead?

I know, I know.
I can’t reply.
Nothing has really changed.
I rarely had a chance,
when lifeblood-flowed and tongue was ripe,
to sneak a word in edge-wise.

Hey, take it easy there.
Your clomp’s so hard it’s apt to wake the dead.

More on G.E. Smith
Happy 80.5, G.E.
A Teacher
In Which We Gather by the River

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