Out And About -- March 6, 2018

Biking: talk about another incredible day for biking. A little bit on the cool side (but just barely) and with gloves and a jacket it's perfect. The only problem: starting this early in the morning the traffic is very, very heavy and a bit scary on some stretches. Compromise: I will bike to the old Starbucks I used to visit often and then once traffic dies down after the morning rush, I will bike  up to Grapevine.

More renovation: yesterday I stopped at a newly renovated McDonald's. It blew me away. Really, really nice, but the "funny" thing was this: the restaurant was markedly improved but it was "same old" menu. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy McDonald's food but somehow they need to "stretch." It will be interesting if they can (stretch).

Today, I'm visiting the Starbucks I used to visit daily for weeks on end -- maybe three years ago. I haven't been here in ages. And it has completely changed. The "bar" takes up almost the entire length of the long room. And it's a real bar. I can't tell if they serve wine or beer in the evenings -- I know Starbucks was thinking about going in that direction at some of their sites -- and this would have been one of those sites, but I can't tell for sure. And I'm not going to ask or check the menu. Either it's easy to see or it's not. Instead of library-style tables designed for six to eight people, this Starbucks now has only one large group table; meant for four, it can squeeze in six but that's it. Instead, the coffee shop now has six small round tables arranged in such a way it would be difficult for more than two people to congregate at each table. The drive-thru and the "uber" pick-up is busy, busy, busy.

Blogging: other than (barely) keeping up with the Bakken, I am not doing as much blogging as I used to. After a frenetic 18 months that began in October, 2016, I am purposely taking a break. I assume my readership will plummet. That's fine. I am still not watching CNBC (or any television for that matter, except NASCAR and some golf) and haven't looked at the stock market news in days. I saw the Drudge Report link yesterday and I heard the opening on talk radio driving Sophia to Tutor Time but that's as much as I know.

Murder rates: purely clickbait but hard to resist -- the 25 US cities, ranked, murder rate per capita.  No cities in Montana, Minnesota, or the Dakotas were on the list. But wow, East St Louis and a few others. I wonder if outliers like school shootings were excluded from the rankings.

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The Literary Page

I'm still in my "Defoe phase," so I will look at Moll Flanders today.

I also will look quickly at A New Literary History of America. I really enjoyed the same in the series on "modern China." And finally, On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction, Brian Boyd, c. 2009 DDS: 809.3BOY.

We'll start with the latter first.

Wow, Boyd's On the Origin of Stories is a keeper. The first part is very pedantic (?) -- a word I first best understood when watching Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris and best to skim through quickly to see if the book is worth its weight in gold. It's a very thick book and very heavy. The second part uses the Homer's Odyssey and Iliad and the Dr Seuss books to expand on the first part.

Book II begins on page 209, and a huge amount of that book -- from page 209 to page 317 is devoted to Homer. Those who know Homer well, will really these 100+ pages.

Along the way, one will learn about the Sally-Anne test; false belief; and irony, just for starters.

Now, on to A New Literary History of America. I've blogged about it before, in fact, just a few months ago. If I had room on my shelves at home I would buy it and put it next to the modern Chinese literature book in the same series.

I would like to take time to comment on the review of one of four autobiographies of Linda Boreman (Lovelace) -- a review written by Ann Marlowe, the author of How To Stop Time and The Book of Trouble. Perhaps another day.

Finally, Moll Flanders. I've only read one book by Defoe: The Journal of the Plague Year. I find it hard to believe that any of his books could be better. Movies have destroyed, unfortunately, my interest in Robinson Crusoe. However, having now read much on Defoe himself I am ready to read (or at least begin reading) Moll Flanders. The full title: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Etc Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu'd variety for threescore years, besides her childhood, was twelve year (sic) a whore, five times a wife (whereof once to her own brother), twelve year a thief, eight year a transported felon in Virginia, at last grew rich liv'd honest and died a penitent. Written from her own memorandums ... by Daniel Defoe, written in the year 1683.

Wow, such a delight. It begins:

My true name is so well known in the records or registers at Newgate, and in the Old Bailey [prisons] ....

It is enough to tell you, that as some of my worst comrades who are out of the way of doing me harm (having gone out of the world by the steps and the string [the gallows], as I often expected to go.

Wow, two things. If you have not read Moll Flanders before but wish to, I highly recommend reading as much of the life and times of Daniel Defoe as possible before tackling Moll Flanders. It will make all the difference in the world.

Until very recently I had never heard of, much less would have understood, the concept of bourgeoisie literature, but as soon as I read the opening page of Moll Flanders, I immediately thought of bourgeoisie literature. I forget now when bourgeoisie literature first appeared, but I assume it was much later than Defoe. If so, one must argue, that along with fathering the historical novel, one might argue he fathered bourgeoisie literature, or certainly added to it.

The 30-second elevator speech as I under bourgeoisie literature: it is written and read simply for the pleasure of writing and reading. The thicker the book, the better, if the writing is good. I'm reminded of lines by the Hemingway character in Midnight in Paris.

For folks on either side of the fence regarding DACA, I would recommend the opening two pages of Moll Flanders. It might be helpful in coming to some "decision" for the "dreamers."

One last thing, and then I will quit. One biographer says that once Defoe found his niche with Robinson Crusoe, all his following novels took the same course. They were all the same. LOL. And here it is: Moll Flanders is an orphan at six months -- her mother, spared the gallows because she was pregnant, was exiled to American shortly after Moll was born and never heard of again (?). Like Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders is "on a deserted island," left to fend for herself, alone at three years of age in the English city of Colchester, Essex.

It will be interesting to see how Moll Flanders parallels Robinson Crusoe, based on my limited knowledge of the latter. It's hard to believe I won't finish Moll Flanders.