In the New Yorker...

[Jeff Wrangler]

Started to read the Schulz piece at lunch today. Holy crap! 

I know, right? That piece was so vivid that since reading it on Saturday a couple of times I've found myself thinking for half a second that an earthquake and tsunami actually HAVE hit the Northwest

Finished it over supper this evening. Well, I didn't want to move to the Pacific Northwest anyway on account of the rain. This is just another good reason not to move there. 

[serious crayons]

Finished it over supper this evening. Well, I didn't want to move to the Pacific Northwest anyway on account of the rain. This is just another good reason not to move there. 

Same here. Seattle's too rainy and Portland's too hip, so neither is on my list. But if I lived there already, I'd be wondering whether to start packing.

My biggest problem is that I am kind of tempted to move to Denver. But I'm afraid legalized pot is going to cause, or is already causing, real-estate prices to soar. Now it will be even worse, because potheads will be fleeing Washington for Colorado! 

[Front-Ranger]

Same here. Seattle's too rainy and Portland's too hip, so neither is on my list. But if I lived there already, I'd be wondering whether to start packing.

My biggest problem is that I am kind of tempted to move to Denver. But I'm afraid legalized pot is going to cause, or is already causing, real-estate prices to soar. Now it will be even worse, because potheads will be fleeing Washington for Colorado! 

  Actually, I haven't noticed much of a change here. But there are "herbal dispensaries" that have opened up in blighted areas and foreclosed buildings and have caused a bit of a renewal in these areas.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Same here. Seattle's too rainy and Portland's too hip, so neither is on my list. But if I lived there already, I'd be wondering whether to start packing.

My biggest problem is that I am kind of tempted to move to Denver. But I'm afraid legalized pot is going to cause, or is already causing, real-estate prices to soar. Now it will be even worse, because potheads will be fleeing Washington for Colorado! 

Portland is "too hip" for you? Really?

I'd like to move to Colorado or Wyoming, too. I never gave a thought to the effect of legalized pot on real estate prices. 

Actually, I haven't noticed much of a change here. But there are "herbal dispensaries" that have opened up in blighted areas and foreclosed buildings and have caused a bit of a renewal in these areas.

I suppose that renewal might be a good thing--unless you're getting displaced by it.

[serious crayons]

Portland is "too hip" for you? Really?

I think so. My own neighborhood is sometimes too hip for me. I know I come off like the hippest of the hip  but actually I'm not.

Maybe "hip" isn't quite the right word. Maybe more like "lefty" or "crunchy" (though I hate the latter expression). Living in a blue state in an even bluer city in an even bluer neighborhood, I often find myself at odds with my neighbors. Like the one who boasted that her children's favorite meal was tofu and brown rice. Or the many who brag about never having set foot in the Mall of America, which is 10 minutes away. Or the party I attended where everyone started bashing organized religion -- "My husband doesn't belong to any church, but he's the most spiritual person I know" -- and laughing about the fake things they would write under "religion" on hospital admission forms, etc. I felt like the only person in the room who was thinking, "You all sound as intolerant and close-minded and sanctimonious as anyone on the Christian right."

Anyway, that's what I imagine Portland would be like, times 10. I could be wrong --- I was there for a couple of days once, and that's it -- but that's the impression I get.

I'd like to move to Colorado or Wyoming, too. I never gave a thought to the effect of legalized pot on real estate prices. 

Actually, I haven't noticed much of a change here. But there are "herbal dispensaries" that have opened up in blighted areas and foreclosed buildings and have caused a bit of a renewal in these areas.

I've read that the big money isn't so much in selling pot, it's in industries that facilitate pot production and sales, because they don't have the banking problems and there's a demand for, say, real estate where it can be grown and processed, etc.

But I don't know much about macroeconomics, so I don't know how much growth in one industry is enough to move the property-value needle. I imagine there are people like me and Jeff who think Colorado would be a great place to live -- picturesque, outdoorsy, tolerable climate, not too expensive, somewhat crunchy but not excessively so -- and some of that group will find it even more appealing now. My son has a couple of friends who attended Colorado State University, I think, at least partly for that reason.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I think so. My own neighborhood is sometimes too hip for me. I know I come off like the hippest of the hip  but actually I'm not.

I've always thought of you as "sensibly, informed hip."

Maybe "hip" isn't quite the right word. Maybe more like "lefty" or "crunchy" (though I hate the latter expression).

I've never bothered to look that one up. I've just assumed it means the "L" word, because those people eat granola, and granola is crunchy, so. ...

Or the party I attended where everyone started bashing organized religion -- "My husband doesn't belong to any church, but he's the most spiritual person I know" -- and laughing about the fake things they would write under "religion" on hospital admission forms, etc. I felt like the only person in the room who was thinking, "You all sound as intolerant and close-minded and sanctimonious as anyone on the Christian right."

Right. Some atheists are like that. And when you try to explain to them that they're being just as dogmatic as the Christian right, they totally don't get it (e.g., they can't behave just like "true believers" because they don't believe in anything--except they do).

I've read that the big money isn't so much in selling pot, it's in industries that facilitate pot production and sales, because they don't have the banking problems and there's a demand for, say, real estate where it can be grown and processed, etc.

Doesn't surprise me. Just like, the people who got rich in the Gold Rush, whether California or the Klondike, weren't the people who dug for gold; they were the people who supplied the people who dug for gold.

But to return to The New Yorker, I'm ready to start the article on the Argentinian prosecutor who was murdered.

[serious crayons]

I've always thought of you as "sensibly, informed hip."

Why thank you!    I like that description.
 

I've never bothered to look that one up. I've just assumed it means the "L" word, because those people eat granola, and granola is crunchy, so. ...

Yeah, it threw me the first time I heard it, too. Which was in a conversation with my neighbor right after 9/11. She was informing me that the attacks upset her more than the average person, because she was from Jersey. "But of course none of my friends live in New York anymore," she said. "They've all moved to hipper places." Hipper? What's hipper than New York City? Portland, she explained. Austin. Places like that. She clarified that by hip she meant "crunchy," so in that context I got it. And yes, I also figured it refers to granola and maybe raw veggies.

New York would be plenty hip enough for me. Portland, maybe a little too hip. (Austin might be OK.)

Right. Some atheists are like that. And when you try to explain to them that they're being just as dogmatic as the Christian right, they totally don't get it (e.g., they can't behave just like "true believers" because they don't believe in anything--except they do).

I had a similar conversation with a guest at my home who, not far from other friends who are church-goers, started spouting off about the evils of Christianity. I said, "What, you mean because they're close-minded and self-righteous and intolerant of other people's views?" He got my implication and just kind of laughed it off and continued ranting. Because it's so obvious to him that Christians are close-minded and so invisible that anti-Christians aren't.

But to return to The New Yorker, I'm ready to start the article on the Argentinian prosecutor who was murdered.

I'm still trying to slog my way through the one about terrorism, There's a great quote in it, though, from a human rights guy who was baffled at how childish both the terrorists and the Bush administration acted on and after 9/11, speaking of 9/11.

[Jeff Wrangler]

But to return to The New Yorker, I'm ready to start the article on the Argentinian prosecutor who was murdered.

Turned out to be longer than necessary, IMO, like a lot of pieces by Dexter Filkins and Jon Lee Anderson. It also wasn't as intriguing a murder mystery as I expected. 

Next up is Anderson's "Letter from Havana," which is nothing if not timely.

[Jeff Wrangler]

The July 27 issue arrived in today's mail. Over supper I went right to Adam Gopnik's essay on Go Set a Watchman. I won't give anything away, except to mention that at one point Gopnik says pretty much something I said several weeks ago when I was discussing the book with a drinkin' buddy. We were talking about how some people were upset to find Atticus portrayed as racist, and I said, in effect, just because he defended a black man in court didn't mean he wasn't racist.

[serious crayons]

The July 27 issue arrived in today's mail. Over supper I went right to Adam Gopnik's essay on Go Set a Watchman. I won't give anything away, except to mention that at one point Gopnik says pretty much something I said several weeks ago when I was discussing the book with a drinkin' buddy. We were talking about how some people were upset to find Atticus portrayed as racist, and i said, in effect, just because he defended a black man in court didn't mean he wasn't racist.

I read that last week online and thought it was really well done. The most fascinating aspect of this whole episode for me is the opportunity to explore how people can do good tings and seem heroic -- especially through the eyes of their 6-year-old daughter -- and also have bad qualities that become clearer to a disillusioned daughter in her 20s.

NYT columnist Joe Nocera today wrote something to the effect that there's no dissonance between the two Atticus Finchs, because both are fictional creations. I think it's more interesting than that. I assume the character is based at least in part on Harper Lee's own father, and her own feelings about him. And like you, I don't see anything astonishing about the idea that a lawyer could both respect law and justice and also be racist, especially in a small town in the 1930s South.

Somewhere along the way I saw a link to something Adam Gladwell wrote six years ago on this very subject. I have it up on my computer but haven't read it yet. For anyone interested, here it is:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/10/the-courthouse-ring

I can envision a conversation between Harper Lee and her editor. The editor thinks 1960 America isn't eager for a book about a racist Southerner (among other problems with the novel). S/he asks why the young woman in the book was surprised to find that her father was racist. Because when she was little her father seemed so heroic and dedicated to upholding justice, Harper Lee answers. Why don't you write about that, the editor advises.