Clearing the Tabs April 30, 2024

Here are some things I've read so far this month or will be reading soon. A lot of people are staying at home looking for things to read, so I've broken this month into two parts again, expect a post on May 15. Also, just because I post something here does not mean I agree with it, it simply means it made me think and I think my readers might enjoy it.

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April 18
Aggressive Canadian progressivism is descending the country into crazy
Justin Trudeau's expansion of state power over media and technology has troubling similarities to Russia, China and Iran

April 19
Empty or Illicit? NYC Shops for a Solution

Mean Girls Rising
Democrats are increasingly beholden to leftist radicals in their midst.

April 20
Carl Erskine, the Last of Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, Passes at 97

April 26

Planners Push Transit, But It's a Hard Sell in Western Cities

The strange death of the family
The world is sleepwalking towards a depopulation crisis

April 29
Electric grid wars are a direct assault on the Western middle class
If we want prosperity for all, electricity must be cheap and consistent. The energy transition cannot leave ordinary people behind

Why London is beating America’s cities
The capital still draws on its imperial origins

Carl Erskine, the Last of Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, Passes at 97

This week I did what many people who know also did this week with the passing of Carl Erskine: I grabbed one of my copies of The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn and read chapter 5.

The Boys of Summer is not just a great baseball book, though it is that. It is great literature in general. It is a book well written that helps makes sense of life and relationships, and it reveals many lessons needed for those things that baseball helps nurture.

Chapter 5, titled Carl and Jimmy, is as much about Carl Erskine as it is about his son, Jimmy, who was born with Down Syndrome after Carl had retired from baseball.

Jimmy's story as told by Kahn highlights Carl's second act in life, and his most important one, that of a father. In 1960, when a child had Down Syndrome, many people sent the child to an institution to live.

The Erskine’s took Jimmy home instead.

There is never a bad reason to pick up a classic work. But the passing of one of the thirteen people profiled in the book, and the final survivor, is a good time to revisit that profile.

 

In this re-reading of Kahn, two sections consisting of three sentences struck me for their use of and beauty of the English language when employed well.

"In the little Indiana den, it is the old story of the father and the son, a startling sunburst over autumn haze, expressed by a father whose own son is robbed of expression." p. 251

This one does not take much explanation when considering a father with a Down Syndrome child. Kahn wove some magic with this one for sure. The “robbed of expression” is an absolutely perfect metaphor.

"Wooden shutters stand open behind Erskine's chair. Memories have poured, but night claws at the window." p. 258

There are many ways to describe an evening getting darker or the sun setting or even the day ending. But when you think about Kahn sitting there in the home of a Brooklyn Dodgers legend and his wanting to hear story after story about times they both knew well, but the clock is ticking, it is getting late, time is short, “night claws at the window.” We all know the feeling. Oh my goodness.

Beautiful prose indeed.

Incidentally, Jimmy just passed away this past November at the age of 63. His life was much longer than his life expectancy at birth would have predicted. That is no doubt due in part to the love that Carl and his wife Betty gave to Jimmy for 63 years.

To have read Carl's life, including the story Kahn tells, is to know that he served his son well over his entire 63 years of life and when Jimmy passed away last year, Carl’s life was complete, his most important job done.

Unfortunately, Kahn is no longer with us for he could tell this story better than any of us.

"Memories have poured..."

*page numbers refer to the First Edition hardback of The Boys of Summer, but the story can be found in Chapter 5 of any edition*

Clearing the Tabs April 15, 2024

Here are some things I've read so far this month or will be reading soon. A lot of people are staying at home looking for things to read, so I've broken this month into two parts again, expect a post on April 30. Also, just because I post something here does not mean I agree with it, it simply means it made me think and I think my readers might enjoy it.

For $15 in ride credit, download the Lyft app using my referral link.

It's the most affordable ride in town. Terms apply.

April 2
The coming revolt against woke capitalism
The ‘progressive’ super-rich have no idea how much the public loathes them.

April 7
America’s Crisis of Civic Virtue

April 8
Is It Safe to Ride Transit?

April 9
Journalists: Please Ask Biden How Much Debt Is Too Much

April 12

California’s Broken Diversity Promise
The Golden State pledges to be “inclusive,” but its policies disproportionately hurt Hispanics.

April 15
Gavin Newsom’s futile bid to ‘Trump-proof’ California