EVERYTHING WAS RAGTIME Reading Doctorows Ragtime again, as one of my birth month indulgences. The music from which the book took its name, retains it power--even to sooth the savage 8th grader. (Many years ago, working as a substitute teacher, I used the syncopated jazz to that end. Thanks Jeff Davidson for spontaneously sitting at your piano and making that recording for me. Your wizardry at the keyboard did Scott Joplin proud and the responses from those children, I will never forget.) If I did live other lives, it was surely in America, on the cusp of the 19th and 20th centuries. (Preceded by that unfortunate Robespierre experience, decades before LOL!) Early 20th century America...the architecture, music, transportation trends, scientific awakenings and the Progressive Movement--defined a nation and its direction, in ways that we still see. There were the many great minds (Louis Brandeis, Ida B. Wells, Robert La Folette, Jane Adams, etc.). However, the cultural conflicts and magical thinking that still plague us were also in full throttle. It was a time of unprecedented violence against people of color and immigrants faced much of the same prejudice we witness today. And as Kentucky celebrates American Indians this month, we must remember the people largely annihilated or driven from their livelihood...to make room for us. All are reflected in this clip from the superb Broadway production, based on the novel. The lines There were gazebos and there were no negros...there were no immigrants--coupled with no reference at all to Native Americas say so much about our history, our ability to segregate and compartmentalize. Oh Amerika!
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 14:51:55 +0000
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