Sundown Town. Expressionist. Five Thoughts for the End of July. Who’s That Lady.
- Quote of the Week: It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home. – Carl T. Rowan
Before moving to Orlando, Florida seven years ago, I spent much of my life in the Atlanta area. For various reasons I sometimes traveled to the Huntsville, Alabama area. Huntsville is a growing city with an economy that continues to prosper, anchored by NASA and its Marshall Space Flight Center. Depending on the route you take to Huntsville, you may find yourself crossing through Guntersville, Alabama and Lake Guntersville. A beautiful town and gorgeous lake, and a relatively quiet area with beautiful lakefront homes. I highly recommend visiting northeast Alabama with Cheaha Mountain, which sits 2,500 feet above sea level, and Little River Canyon, where you can hike and rappel off the canyon’s edge. Guntersville is less than a three-hour drive from Atlanta and Nashville.
Depending on the route you take to northeast Alabama, may find yourself driving through, in the blink of an eye, Arab, Alabama. This small town was established in the mid-1800’s with the current name of Arab a misspelling by the U.S. Postal Service. The city’s intended name, taken from the son of the town’s founder, was Arad Thompson. Unfortunately, Arab was known as a ‘sundown town’ warning African Americans not to stay in Arab after dark. Disgusting, yes, and Arab was only one of many towns in the U.S. known as ‘sundown towns.’ A sundown town (also known as a gray town) is an area in the U.S. where Black people are forced out of the public once the sun goes down. According to AP News, “these towns are inhabited by a majority of white people who insist that Black and white residents get along really well.”
Another sad chapter of discrimination in the U.S. Thankfully, we have comedian Henry Cho to put it all in perspective. Well done, Henry.
- How do you define ‘expression?’ All of us have expressions, usually as a response to an action. Some of our expressions are sublime, and some of them outlandish as demonstrated by Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson). With the 2024 Paris Olympics opening last week, I remembered that Mr. Bean provided us, along with the London Symphony Orchestra, a performance to remember to open up the 2012 Olympics. I am not sure how he thinks through his expressions, or if they are all impromptu without rehearsal. This performance of expression is one to remember.
Things I Think for the Last Sunday of July
- The ethos of the Olympic Games consists of three values: 1) Striving for excellence and encouraging people to be the best they can be; 2) Demonstrating respect in many different manners: respect towards yourself, the rules, your opponents, the environment, the public, etc.; 3) Celebrating friendship, which is quite unique to the Olympic Games – an event that brings people together every few years. While the creativity of Friday’s opening ceremonies should be celebrated, I am unsure of the some of the content including what looked like a recreated painting of The Last Supper. Again, I enjoyed the creativity of using the Seine River instead of the Olympic Stadium, but to me the opening ceremonies were a bit over-the-top as a ‘made-for-TV’ spectacle.
- A week later, Delta Air Lines is still struggling with IT infrastructure and recovery from a third-party service provider’s software glitch. Bad optics, especially if you are a shareholder.
- Do we finally get a federal rate cut in September?
- It interesting that of all countries, Greece is spending $3.5 billion to buy 20 F-35 Joint Strike fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. Their reason: continued tension in the region between Greece and neighbor Turkey. There is nothing good about this.
- The repressive government and dire economic situation in Venezuela have officials predicting that up to a third of their population could flee the country. Venezuela once boasted Latin America’s richest economy due the having the biggest oil reserves on earth. Due to former President Hugo Chavez and current President Nicolas Maduro, the country’s corruption and high levels of debt have led to an economic collapse. So unfortunate and sad.
- Pure Talent. Rudolph, Ronald and O’Kelly Isley gave us music that unfortunately will not be replicated. “That Lady” is a song by the Isley Brothers, made famous in 1973 when it was reworked into a funk-rock style. The video below is the long version of the song, with the brother’s harmonic style and starting with the 2:30 mark, a guitar performance bar none. Here is to the Isley Brothers and their massive hit, “That Lady.” Pure Talent.