Post by pauljmsn on Jan 19, 2009 13:08:37 GMT -5
(The scene is in the East Wing of the Kansas State Capitol Building in Topeka, on the second floor. There are several people in the corridor, milling around and admiring the murals on the walls. Paul and Murphy, the handsome Sable ferret, contemplate one mural on the north wall. Murphy is resplendant in his red serge RCMP uniform and campaign hat. He's dressed in his best for the occasion. He is Murphy; he can do no less.)
(The mural depicts a group of armed people confronting one another. In the center, towering above the rest, a formidable figure with the spiked beard of a prophet brandishes a bible and a rifle. In the background a tornado and a prairie fire are raging out of control.)
Murphy: You were right, sir. This is impressive. What did you say the mural is called?
Paul: Let me see - I can never remember the name. (Leafs through pamphlet.) Ah, here we are - "The Tragic Prelude" by John Steuart Curry. He completed it in 1941, and it was controversial from the beginning.
Murphy: I can just imagine. It didn't exactly portray Kansans in a favorable light, did it?
Paul: Well, that's the way people felt about it at the time. If you ask me, by all rights this painting should still be controversial, for so many reasons.
Murphy: I'm sure you'd feel that way, sir.
Paul: Indeed. (He pauses for a moment, then continues thoughtfully.) You know, Murph, way back in 1961, there was a lot of fuss over the state's Centennial. I know they emphasised Kansas history quite a bit in the one-room school I was attending at the time. I remember we had to draw the Santa Fe and Chisolm Trails on a map of Kansas, and we had to color in the State Seal - there were other things, but I can't recall much more. I was only seven then. I didn't get much out of it, and I grew up thinking of my home state as not amounting to much. I didn't really understand just how much history has come out of this mostly-rectangular region.
Murphy (nodding): I know, sir. I've been reading a lot about Kansas lately, and it is fascinating. So much has happened. Carrie Nation and William Allen White hail from here.
Paul: Yep, and there was Brown vs. the Board of Education...
Murphy: The "Battle of Kansas" in World War II...
Paul: And the Nude Prostitute Races in Delano in the 19th Century.
Murphy (smiling and shaking his head): You humans and your biological urges.
(Man and ferret study the mural for a few moments of quiet.)
Murphy: And then there was the period before the Civil War.
Paul: Yes. "Bleeding Kansas", they called it, and with good reason. (Points at tall figure.) He played his part, but he was just one man of many. I often wonder how things would have gone if the fight over Kansas statehood had turned out differently.
Murphy: "What if." Always an interesting game to play. What do you think, sir - what might have happened if Kansas had entered the Union as a slave state?
Paul: Murphy, I don't know. The whole country was a powder keg over slavery. It was just waiting for something to touch it off. If it hadn't been the Kansas statehood controversy, it would have been something else. I would guess that a slave-state Kansas would have just put off the inevitable.
Murphy: Most likely. (He studies the central figure in the mural. With his hair and beard flying wild, the look in the man's eyes is seriously demented, and his mouth is open in what has to be an incoherent bellow.) Do you think he was mad, sir?
Paul: That's a very difficult question, Murph, but I think he may have been. Murderously so, in fact. He was a fanatic for his cause. It happened to be the winning cause, that's all.
Murphy: No, sir, you're wrong. It wasn't the winning cause. It was the right cause. But he was a fanatic, nonetheless.
Paul: Yes, you're right. Well, so much for historical musings. I know the Skippys are planning something to commemorate the Inaugural. You have any idea what it is?
Murphy: Oh, sure, sir! They've got a stage set up on the Capitol lawn and they've got a band set up to cover some songs from a classic rock band from Topeka.
Paul: Well, then, c'mon, let's go catch the music. (They leave the East Wing, with its mural of a man with wild eyes and a wild beard.)
(The scene shifts to a stage in front of the Kansas state Capitol. The venue is packed. Skippy on guitar, Skippy on guitar, Skippy on electric keyboard and Skippy on drumkit are ready to play. They begin their first number a capella.)
Carry on my wayward son!
There'll be peace when you are done!
Lay your weary head to rest!
Don't you cry no more!
(Skippy and Skippy lay down some heavy licks on their guitars as
they go into the intro. Skippy plays some deceptively light notes on the keyboard as Skippy continues to sing:
Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion.
I was soaring ever higher,
But I flew too high.
(Skippy and Skippy come in on the guitar and drums as Skippy sings further.)
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man.
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man.
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming,
I can hear them say:
Skippy, Skippy and Skippy:
"Carry on my wayward son!
There'll be peace when you are done!
Lay your weary head to rest!
Don't you cry no more!"
Skippy:
Masquerading as a man with a reason,
My charade is the event of the season.
And if I claim to be a wise man,
It surely means that I don't know.
On a stormy sea of moving emotion,
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean.
I set a course for winds of fortune,
But I hear the voices say:
Skippy, Skippy and Skippy:
"Carry on my wayward son!
There'll be peace when you are done!
Lay your weary head to rest!
Don't you cry no more!"
Skippy: No!
(Skippy goes into an intense guitar instrumental, punctuated by Skippy's keyboard. In the background, Skippy, Skippy and Skippy fix the silencer to the vintage Civil War cannon. Soon the cannon is silently fired and the charge soars into the air above Topeka and explodes. Three banners float down beneath parachutes: TO THE REVEREND MARTIN LUTHER KING - HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM THE "PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH WINDS"!, CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW PRESIDENT - WOO-HOO!!! and HAPPY UPCOMING 148TH BIRTHDAY TO KANSAS, FROM YOUR NATIVE SON!)
(Skippy, Skippy, and Skippy: Carry on!)
Skippy:
You will always remember!
(Skippy, Skippy, and Skippy: Carry on!)
Skippy:
Nothing equals the splendor!
Now your life's no longer empty.
Surely heaven waits for you!
Skippy, Skippy and Skippy:
Carry on my wayward son!
There'll be peace when you are done!
Lay your weary head to rest!
Skippy: Don't you cry -
Skippy: Don't you cry -
Skippy: No more!
(Music builds to climactic end.)
Skippy: No more.....
##########
A bit of a discussion:
Isn't it a remarkable coincidence? Today we honor the memory of a man (just a man; I keep thinking of him as a giant) with a tremendous amount of courage and a gift for oratory, who worked hard and gave his life for a dream. And tomorrow we will watch history being made. I'm not ashamed to say that I like Obama a lot and am looking forward to see what he does.
Yes, I'm taking all of this personally. You can see us both here:
www.geocities.com/pauljmsn/Pics_of_me.html
I'm dating a woman of color. Mixed race, yes - like Obama - but in some circles, that's enough for her to be thought of a "black" (and far worse terms). A little over fifty years ago, in some places, the two of us holding hands in public would have been scandalous, not to mention dangerous; and in the last century, in certain places, she could have been property - my property. Think about that. Sobering, isn't it?
Right now I'm proud to be an American.
The best to Obama and this country of ours.
Carry on.
Paul
(The mural depicts a group of armed people confronting one another. In the center, towering above the rest, a formidable figure with the spiked beard of a prophet brandishes a bible and a rifle. In the background a tornado and a prairie fire are raging out of control.)
Murphy: You were right, sir. This is impressive. What did you say the mural is called?
Paul: Let me see - I can never remember the name. (Leafs through pamphlet.) Ah, here we are - "The Tragic Prelude" by John Steuart Curry. He completed it in 1941, and it was controversial from the beginning.
Murphy: I can just imagine. It didn't exactly portray Kansans in a favorable light, did it?
Paul: Well, that's the way people felt about it at the time. If you ask me, by all rights this painting should still be controversial, for so many reasons.
Murphy: I'm sure you'd feel that way, sir.
Paul: Indeed. (He pauses for a moment, then continues thoughtfully.) You know, Murph, way back in 1961, there was a lot of fuss over the state's Centennial. I know they emphasised Kansas history quite a bit in the one-room school I was attending at the time. I remember we had to draw the Santa Fe and Chisolm Trails on a map of Kansas, and we had to color in the State Seal - there were other things, but I can't recall much more. I was only seven then. I didn't get much out of it, and I grew up thinking of my home state as not amounting to much. I didn't really understand just how much history has come out of this mostly-rectangular region.
Murphy (nodding): I know, sir. I've been reading a lot about Kansas lately, and it is fascinating. So much has happened. Carrie Nation and William Allen White hail from here.
Paul: Yep, and there was Brown vs. the Board of Education...
Murphy: The "Battle of Kansas" in World War II...
Paul: And the Nude Prostitute Races in Delano in the 19th Century.
Murphy (smiling and shaking his head): You humans and your biological urges.
(Man and ferret study the mural for a few moments of quiet.)
Murphy: And then there was the period before the Civil War.
Paul: Yes. "Bleeding Kansas", they called it, and with good reason. (Points at tall figure.) He played his part, but he was just one man of many. I often wonder how things would have gone if the fight over Kansas statehood had turned out differently.
Murphy: "What if." Always an interesting game to play. What do you think, sir - what might have happened if Kansas had entered the Union as a slave state?
Paul: Murphy, I don't know. The whole country was a powder keg over slavery. It was just waiting for something to touch it off. If it hadn't been the Kansas statehood controversy, it would have been something else. I would guess that a slave-state Kansas would have just put off the inevitable.
Murphy: Most likely. (He studies the central figure in the mural. With his hair and beard flying wild, the look in the man's eyes is seriously demented, and his mouth is open in what has to be an incoherent bellow.) Do you think he was mad, sir?
Paul: That's a very difficult question, Murph, but I think he may have been. Murderously so, in fact. He was a fanatic for his cause. It happened to be the winning cause, that's all.
Murphy: No, sir, you're wrong. It wasn't the winning cause. It was the right cause. But he was a fanatic, nonetheless.
Paul: Yes, you're right. Well, so much for historical musings. I know the Skippys are planning something to commemorate the Inaugural. You have any idea what it is?
Murphy: Oh, sure, sir! They've got a stage set up on the Capitol lawn and they've got a band set up to cover some songs from a classic rock band from Topeka.
Paul: Well, then, c'mon, let's go catch the music. (They leave the East Wing, with its mural of a man with wild eyes and a wild beard.)
(The scene shifts to a stage in front of the Kansas state Capitol. The venue is packed. Skippy on guitar, Skippy on guitar, Skippy on electric keyboard and Skippy on drumkit are ready to play. They begin their first number a capella.)
Carry on my wayward son!
There'll be peace when you are done!
Lay your weary head to rest!
Don't you cry no more!
(Skippy and Skippy lay down some heavy licks on their guitars as
they go into the intro. Skippy plays some deceptively light notes on the keyboard as Skippy continues to sing:
Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion.
I was soaring ever higher,
But I flew too high.
(Skippy and Skippy come in on the guitar and drums as Skippy sings further.)
Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man.
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man.
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming,
I can hear them say:
Skippy, Skippy and Skippy:
"Carry on my wayward son!
There'll be peace when you are done!
Lay your weary head to rest!
Don't you cry no more!"
Skippy:
Masquerading as a man with a reason,
My charade is the event of the season.
And if I claim to be a wise man,
It surely means that I don't know.
On a stormy sea of moving emotion,
Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean.
I set a course for winds of fortune,
But I hear the voices say:
Skippy, Skippy and Skippy:
"Carry on my wayward son!
There'll be peace when you are done!
Lay your weary head to rest!
Don't you cry no more!"
Skippy: No!
(Skippy goes into an intense guitar instrumental, punctuated by Skippy's keyboard. In the background, Skippy, Skippy and Skippy fix the silencer to the vintage Civil War cannon. Soon the cannon is silently fired and the charge soars into the air above Topeka and explodes. Three banners float down beneath parachutes: TO THE REVEREND MARTIN LUTHER KING - HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM THE "PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH WINDS"!, CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW PRESIDENT - WOO-HOO!!! and HAPPY UPCOMING 148TH BIRTHDAY TO KANSAS, FROM YOUR NATIVE SON!)
(Skippy, Skippy, and Skippy: Carry on!)
Skippy:
You will always remember!
(Skippy, Skippy, and Skippy: Carry on!)
Skippy:
Nothing equals the splendor!
Now your life's no longer empty.
Surely heaven waits for you!
Skippy, Skippy and Skippy:
Carry on my wayward son!
There'll be peace when you are done!
Lay your weary head to rest!
Skippy: Don't you cry -
Skippy: Don't you cry -
Skippy: No more!
(Music builds to climactic end.)
Skippy: No more.....
##########
A bit of a discussion:
Isn't it a remarkable coincidence? Today we honor the memory of a man (just a man; I keep thinking of him as a giant) with a tremendous amount of courage and a gift for oratory, who worked hard and gave his life for a dream. And tomorrow we will watch history being made. I'm not ashamed to say that I like Obama a lot and am looking forward to see what he does.
Yes, I'm taking all of this personally. You can see us both here:
www.geocities.com/pauljmsn/Pics_of_me.html
I'm dating a woman of color. Mixed race, yes - like Obama - but in some circles, that's enough for her to be thought of a "black" (and far worse terms). A little over fifty years ago, in some places, the two of us holding hands in public would have been scandalous, not to mention dangerous; and in the last century, in certain places, she could have been property - my property. Think about that. Sobering, isn't it?
Right now I'm proud to be an American.
The best to Obama and this country of ours.
Carry on.
Paul
. I listened to MLK's speech again today on my lunch break, it was playing on NPR...I cried at the end. It's a historic time.
