Overheard at Table 3: James Baldwin "Nothing Personal"

Nothing Personal

James Baldwin 

 

More of an extended essay than a "book" per se, this writing was originally published along with some artwork that a friend of Baldwin's had completed to go hand in hand with the words, but the editor and preface writer found this essay profound enough to present in book form, without the accompanying art.

I wish I could write solely about the essay, but frankly, the preface and the afterword overshadows the magnificent perceptive writing by Baldwin, by attempting to apply what he wrote in 1964 after the death of Medgar Evers to the Trump presidency of our present day.  They attempt to ascribe some sort of prescience to Nothing Personal; in effect, making it very personal ... to them.   

This dilutes the work itself, which speaks to a much more universal theme of the overall American character: our self-loathing, our inability to be truly honest with ourselves and our past, our inability to articulate what it is we truly long for.

While I write this, I think perhaps, then that the words written by the preface writer and the afterword are perhaps integral to that book, or that edition, to be more accurate.   Their words are not as brilliant or as thought-provoking as Baldwin's, and it is easy to see who, of the three essays in that tome, is the true master storyteller, who is the true master of thought.  It is Baldwin, and the others merely try to use Baldwin to defend the point that is emotionally painful to them in the here and the now.

But these times will move on.  They will change.  And if anybody reads this particular edition of Nothing Personal one hundred years from now, they will find that Baldwin's essay still holds some inspirational message, whereas the writings that bookend the essay will seem like antiquated rantings.

 

 

 

Overheard at Table 1: Arm-Wrestling Eight-Year-Olds

"What always got me about Charlie Kirk was that he - like Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro - always went to debate college students.  19, 20 year olds ... people who are not known for their rationality or decision-making abilities.  So of course these guys who are all jacked up trained on bullshit rhetoric when they are talking with emotional screaming hyenas look all good for their clips that they send to their followers, but seriously, Kirk debating college students is like me arm-wrestling an eight-year-old.

"I'm kind of a wimpy guy, but even I can take an eight-year-old in arm-wrestling."

Overheard at Booth 4: What I Said During Menopause

Wife: I can't be held responsible for anything I say during menopause.

Husband: But you've been menopausal since the COVID year.

Wife: Or even before.

Husband: I'm not really comfortable with this.

Wife: Oh!  Well, I am so glad that YOU aren't comfortable!  Nice that it's all about YOUR feelings.

Husband: Shit.  Walked right into that one.

[photo by Mike Sutter]

Overheard at Booth 3: The Story of the Princess and the King

#2WordPrompt
Princess and King

"I wish to marry for love!" demanded the princess.

So the King relented and allowed her to wed the serf.  

The Prince from the other kingdom waged war.  Many died. Including the serf.

"Why?" the princess in tears, asked her father.

"I chose Love," he replied.

 

2025-0906 

Story inspired by a writing prompt, #2WordPrompt, and uses a theme that I have been mulling over for many years, which runs contrary to the current idea of a medieval or Renaissance princess choosing her own mate against arranged marriages.   The idea is that many of these arranged marriages were for uniting various kingdoms, usually for protection, and often to prevent wars between said kingdoms.

 

Here is a longer version of the story.

 

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was of the age to be married.  Her father had indulged her and protected her as a child; however, he had never shied away from letting her know that one day she would be married, and that he would choose the husband from several of the princes of nearby kingdoms.

However, she was a willful child, and a favorite of her father, and as she was becoming a young woman, she realized that she had fallen in love with the stable boy.  They had practically grown up together, and he had become a handsome young man.

Her father told her one day of her impending marriage to a prince in a nearby kingdom.  She immediately rejected the idea, telling her father that she was in love with the stable boy and that she demanded to marry for love, not for station.

Her father begged her to reconsider and consent, but the princess would hear none of it.  Her father told her that the marriage had been arranged ever since she and the prince were children.  She did not care.  She would not be wed to a man she did not know - only to the one she did know and loved.

So, her father relented and she was free to love the stable boy and plan their wedding.

 However, because the arrangement was annulled, war broke out between the two kingdoms.  The invading army from the nearby kingdom, led by the prince, swept over the mountains and through the hills and plains and killed many, many of the king's subjects.

The stable boy, who was called to be a page to one of the knights and ride out to the fighting to tend the horses, himself was killed in one of the battles.   Word came back to the princess that the prince himself had killed the lad.

The princess ran to her father, who sat on his throne, despondent, while the dark clouds gathered all around the land.   "Why?" she demanded of him.  "Why this sacrifice?  Why did all this happen?"

"Because I chose Love," the king said to his daughter. 

 

 

[I can submit this to Bunker Squirrels, but as it is roughly 363 words, I will need to reduce it to 250 words]

 

[I can also use this in Anomaly] 

 

 

 

Overheard at Table 2: Deacon LifeGroup Study

Notes from the LifeGroup gathering:

Genesis 1:28 - be fruitful and multiply

The church doesn't want to split groups, but it wants them to split organically and naturally.  The call this the BIRTH PLAN

John 14:12 - Believes and will do.

Ephesians 4:11-12

    Equip the Saints for service

Matthew 28 - the Great Commission

Matthew 4:19 

2 Timothy 2:2

Matthew 6:33 

John 3:30

Acts 1:8

Pastor suggests the book

Hero Maker by Dave Ferguson

Overheard at Table 3: Riding High Center

One thing about extremists, at least they're not stuck in the middle.

Yeah, but they often get stuck in a rut.

True, true.

Overheard at Table 2: Sparrow Remembers Her Grandpa

Sparrow had fond memories of Grandpa.

"I remember one time, I was maybe 14,15, and I was staying at their house, and I asked Grandpa if he had any pain reliever, and he went into the bathroom and looked in the cupboard and he would always do funny things, like he wouldn't say Acetaminophen or Ibuprofen, he said, 'We've got I See the Medicine and we've got I Be Profane.  Which one you want?'"

And I said, "I actually need some My Doll."

And he said, "Aw, your Grandma hasn't needed any of that for about ten years."

And Grandma yells from the kitchen, "She doesn't care to know that, Owen!"

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#vss365 

#prompt

#Sparrow