I understand why U of Chicago wasn't a good fit for you, Laura, & why you wanted to challenge the young prof in that early lecture. Still, it's unfortunate that you had the bad luck of having to listen to her regressive nonsense re courage. Most academics at the time wouldn't have been caught dead valourizing Tennyson like that. He was widely scorned by students of literature & critical theory for his imperialistic views. Instead, a poem that was widely taught & treated war more honestly was "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, a poet on the front lines who gave his life in WWI. He exposed exactly the hypocrisy that you identify of those comfortable armchair-bound politicians who send the young to die in wars vastly distant geographically that they themselves are insulated from. The title is taken from Latin poet Horace, who wrote, "Dulce et decorum est / pro patria mori" -- "it is sweet & fitting to die for one's country". Owen calls this glorification of war, embedded into western culture since ancient times, "the old lie". Thank you for your essay. Already the discourse in the US about Trump & Hegseth's new war is unfortunately very abstract. Few comprehend the real suffering & horror of war.
Dear Ms. Jedeed, From an old grey woman on a dismal grey morning . . . Whoa. You are a wonderful writer. You wrote about everything that haunts me daily. Even though the hippies have been scrutinized, analyzed, and mostly debunked as naive -as you describe them-those were glorious days. We felt that acceptance and love for our neighbors, even the ones hating our existence, we sang songs of peace that we believed would influence those with bombs and worse, we truly believed: c'mon people now . . . everybody get together, try to love one another, right now. I was young and foolish and a risk taker in those days and my experience of the betrayal and corruption was personal and on the ground-hitchhiking across the country with a soldier so damaged by his time in Vietnam that his brain was on fire, real Amuricans with full gun racks pulling over to kill anything that moved, and everywhere the language of division, misogyny, and racism. For me, to be alive today is to continue as a member of a generation unwanted and disrespected. We are old and our society wants us gone. "You don't even begin to understand what is happening," is a phrase spoken by the bright-eyed 25 year olds deep in their studies of tech and commerce. Your writing is honest, thoughtful, and intelligent. You are unafraid to ask the tough questions, consider different angles, and speak what you feel and believe. That is the definition of courage. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN for your contribution to our tower of babel. I feel not so alone. PEACE, LOVE, and HAPPINESS ALWAYS.
I eat shit for not having Vietnam Service. Was trained but never sent. Refused a Commission. Ran into some old comrades years later. What you been doing? Conducting small unit tactics in the field with third world people who don’t look like me or speak my language. Did over forty years of this by this point. Kept my men fed and supplied without the aid of any government. We did construction. Did twelve more years after this conversation. “ You are the Cong. You should be ashamed “ I had the same training as my former comrade, Just applied it to the situation that I found myself in. This is any thinking person today. We don’t fit into a mold. We are our own mold.
Our friends and brothers and uncles were coming home in body bags. The ones who made it home alive woke up screaming in the middle of the night.
We did dream of something better.
I understand why U of Chicago wasn't a good fit for you, Laura, & why you wanted to challenge the young prof in that early lecture. Still, it's unfortunate that you had the bad luck of having to listen to her regressive nonsense re courage. Most academics at the time wouldn't have been caught dead valourizing Tennyson like that. He was widely scorned by students of literature & critical theory for his imperialistic views. Instead, a poem that was widely taught & treated war more honestly was "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen, a poet on the front lines who gave his life in WWI. He exposed exactly the hypocrisy that you identify of those comfortable armchair-bound politicians who send the young to die in wars vastly distant geographically that they themselves are insulated from. The title is taken from Latin poet Horace, who wrote, "Dulce et decorum est / pro patria mori" -- "it is sweet & fitting to die for one's country". Owen calls this glorification of war, embedded into western culture since ancient times, "the old lie". Thank you for your essay. Already the discourse in the US about Trump & Hegseth's new war is unfortunately very abstract. Few comprehend the real suffering & horror of war.
"forward! he cried
from the rear,
and the front rank died
the general sat
and lines on the map
moved from side to side"
- Pink Floyd
Dear Ms. Jedeed, From an old grey woman on a dismal grey morning . . . Whoa. You are a wonderful writer. You wrote about everything that haunts me daily. Even though the hippies have been scrutinized, analyzed, and mostly debunked as naive -as you describe them-those were glorious days. We felt that acceptance and love for our neighbors, even the ones hating our existence, we sang songs of peace that we believed would influence those with bombs and worse, we truly believed: c'mon people now . . . everybody get together, try to love one another, right now. I was young and foolish and a risk taker in those days and my experience of the betrayal and corruption was personal and on the ground-hitchhiking across the country with a soldier so damaged by his time in Vietnam that his brain was on fire, real Amuricans with full gun racks pulling over to kill anything that moved, and everywhere the language of division, misogyny, and racism. For me, to be alive today is to continue as a member of a generation unwanted and disrespected. We are old and our society wants us gone. "You don't even begin to understand what is happening," is a phrase spoken by the bright-eyed 25 year olds deep in their studies of tech and commerce. Your writing is honest, thoughtful, and intelligent. You are unafraid to ask the tough questions, consider different angles, and speak what you feel and believe. That is the definition of courage. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN for your contribution to our tower of babel. I feel not so alone. PEACE, LOVE, and HAPPINESS ALWAYS.
Best take of everything in the media flurry today.
I eat shit for not having Vietnam Service. Was trained but never sent. Refused a Commission. Ran into some old comrades years later. What you been doing? Conducting small unit tactics in the field with third world people who don’t look like me or speak my language. Did over forty years of this by this point. Kept my men fed and supplied without the aid of any government. We did construction. Did twelve more years after this conversation. “ You are the Cong. You should be ashamed “ I had the same training as my former comrade, Just applied it to the situation that I found myself in. This is any thinking person today. We don’t fit into a mold. We are our own mold.
Thanks.