BOOK REVIEW: Geraldine Brooks' Latest

Ever since reading Geraldine Brook's People of the Book, I've been a serious fan. She has an uncanny way of modulating her prose to fit the times she writes about. And it is no wonder that she won a Pulitzer for The March, an updated Little Women, if you will, all done with marvelous writing and feeling.

So it is with The Secret Chord.

It is incomparable (except perhaps to the Bible's accounts of the life of David), uncompromisingly told, and true to the Biblical account -- but with her own special and inspired voice of respectful and sensitive knowledgeable elaboration.

A book of the Spirit, a work of re-telling that should upset some prissy appplecarts -- a re-statement of the reign of David, and the rise not only of his city, but his vision of  the Temple and his anointed successor, Shlomo (Solomon) -- "his name a byword for wisdom and good governance through the centuries."

Her art in tracing David's playing and singing of a harp, beginning with his first which he made himself as a boy blesses the work with grace. And the ending will make the attentive tear up as the children's song and music rise to and hold the final note ... The Secret Chord that David would take to the end.

'The Worlds' and Henry Gonner

Henry Gonner was a delightful fixture in Richmond, Virginia during the 50s, through the 70s and a bit beyond. He was executive director of the Central Richmond Association, a group dedicated to reviving and developing  the city’s core into the vibrant social, cultural, and business center we enjoy today.

And Henry did that to the hilt, never flinching at the odds, constantly promoting, publicizing, and speaking about the great future of downtown, while at the same time paying his due to our storied past – and what it could mean to the future.

When he staged an event he pulled out all the stops. From his ever-present “Bouncing Building Boom Belles” to live fireworks atop downtown high-rise office buildings, he spread the word that Downton Richmond was open for business and growing.

(Never mind that the fireworks that last time prompted a stern reaction from the Fire Department. Seems that explosives on high-rise buildings’ rooftops allegedly violated a City ordinance -- Gonner’s point got made though, and there were enough lawyers on his board to keep him out of hot water – plus the people loved it.)

Henry Gonner is no longer with us. But his spirit is. And it was present as the City – and the region – celebrated the recently completed UCI World Cycling Championships – the first time an American city had hosted the event in more than a quarter of a century.

It took years of planning, and the work of scores of volunteers, as well as Richmond Region Tourism, state government, all of the downtown business community and clearly the City of Richmond and the Counties of Henrico, Hanover, and Caroline.

The planners estimated that as many as 450,000 might visit the region for “The Worlds,” as the event is known … and that visitation number  was buttressed by a worldwide television audience estimated at 300 million plus. Never had these parts seen anything like the scope and impact of any similar event (outside of a certain war of yore, anyway).

But, at the outset, “the Worlds” had detractors – negativists that seem to infest our town – still. I was reminded that Henry Gonner knew them in his day, too. He called them “Nattering Nabobs of Negativism” who were, of course, always getting in the way of civic progress.

This time, they showed up at the beginning. First, the Nabobs were upset that the world would actually see some of the city’s history – specifically the dramatic statue of Robert E. Lee which the cyclists would circle more than a dozen times. Next came an airplane trailing a large Confederate battle flag and some words, one of which was mis-spelled, much to my glee.

But I could almost hear Henry laughing…for within days the event one-upped all the naysayers. Enormous cheering crowds from all over the world filled every possible niche to watch as the events proceeded.

And that 450,00 estimate of visitors? In all fairness, it was presented in a way that made many think the planners meant 450,000 individuals would show. But the reality was that the number represented visitations, for most folks came for one to three days.

And how about that number? Recently we learned that there were more than 670,000 visitations.

 I remember Henry Gonner’s perpetual smile. He never would have said “I told you so.” But he clearly had laid the groundwork for our current generation of leaders.

Well done, “RVA.”

'And every nerve was frayed...'

A few days ago I got caught in cross-town West End rush hour traffic. It had been some time since I had been this way. Every light that could be was red. Every parking lot full of cars, trucks and enormous SUVs (with one passenger – the driver) was emptying onto the roads. And every nerve seemed to fray.

It was actually scary at times. The disregard for other people some drivers have is dangerous. Tailgating in a line of tailgaters at 45 miles-per-hour is dangerous. Switching lanes precipitously is dangerous. Trying to beat red lights is more than dangerous. It is illegal and potentially deadly.

All of that was going on.

Have the pressures of the times made some of us less heedful while driving?

I think so.

About a year ago I posted the following. I thought it might be useful (to some, anyway) to post again:

(Originally published Oct. 24, 2014) –

            Maybe you’ve  had this experience. You are stopped by a red traffic light. You are in the right-hand lane of a four-lane street. You intend to go straight ahead when the light turns green.

        Before it does though, you hear a horn blow, and it is no mere toot. It is full-blown, its length announcing the presence of an Attitude.

You look about expecting to see someone blocking another car, or about to swerve into the attitudinal honker’s lane. Either scenario would justify a good warning honk.

But you see that the only other car around is a rather crappy looking old thing, sitting low to the ground, painted with a worn patina of gun-metal primer – the kind that might encoat a nuclear submarine.

USS Heap is right on your rear bumper. Its driver grimaces in a millennial scrunch.

The traffic light has only been red for about 30 seconds, and now it turns green. You proceed cautiously ahead with an eye on your rear-view mirror.

Once clear, you see Joe Honker jerk his car into a sharp right-hand turn … and was that an ugly hand gesture directed at you?

He roars off – not because he’s got a hot engine. It’s just a wimpy four-banger with holes in the muffler, the kind you jab with an ice-pick to make it sound souped-up.

Once you are clear of the intersection and safely on the way you reflect on this rencontre.

Why would a reasonable driver demand with an obnoxious honk that you – showing no right-hand-turn signal – would break the law and run a red light so that he could exercise his right to turn right on red?

Of course it was irrational…but not an isolated incident these days. I’ve experienced others, and they seem to have proliferated in recent months. You may have had similar encounters.

Can we understand this phenomenon?

Is it drugs? Or is it some sort of twisted understanding of entitlement? Certainly it’s nothing new and seems to be more widespread nowadays.

I think it could be both – maybe one too many Red Bulls? – combined with a sense of egocentric entitlement. Entitlements, after all, seem to be much in the patois of politicians and their toadies these days. We are raising generations of attitudinally challenged newly “entitled” folks. Add them to the already entitled notions many of us may have just by virtue of being theoretically free people, and we have ourselves a social stew with a hint of advanced navel-gazing in the mix.

And can that be the product of politicians over-promising increasingly credulous generations no longer expected to leave high school – or college, for that matter – with a complete understanding of our Constitutional heritage and the rule of law?

And worse – are these historically deprived folks unable to understand that we do not have the right to challenge the rights of others just for the selfish need to turn right on red when someone else is ahead of them?

How petty.

And how dangerous.