tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246874642024-03-07T08:54:44.412+03:30Internal MonologueIn which I write down all those musings of which the world has been horribly deprived until this moment.
(Progressive Politics, Liberal Religion, Sex, and the occasional abnormality that bubbles forth from goodness knows where.)Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01624382155973623339noreply@blogger.comBlogger3049125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-50157496487670890012023-12-25T20:11:00.001+03:302023-12-25T20:11:37.071+03:30Gregg Bissonette wishes Quinn Merry Christmas<p> Here is <a href="https://www.cameo.com/recipient/657f7301790f60c589e2b325?from_share_sheet=1&utm_campaign=video_share_to_copy">the link</a>!</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-84995258461250815092023-12-25T20:05:00.004+03:302023-12-25T20:16:07.088+03:30Gregg Bissonette<p> <a href="https://www.cameo.com/recipient/657f7301790f60c589e2b325?from_share_sheet=1&utm_campaign=video_share_to_copy" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">https://www.cameo.com/recipient/657f7301790f60c589e2b325?from_share_sheet=1&utm_campaign=video_share_to_copy</a></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-28095886650855452142023-07-06T07:50:00.003+03:302023-07-06T07:50:18.971+03:30The new Threads app<p> <a href="https://www.threads.net/@zdrake314">https://www.threads.net/@zdrake314</a></p><p>I’m on Meta’s new Twitter clone. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-14089745632682879512022-06-12T11:51:00.006+04:302022-08-30T02:47:40.723+04:30Bob Dylan - Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour - Oakland, Fox Theater, June 11, 2022<p> As usual I splatter my thoughts in no particular order:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The whole darn show, recorded from within someone’s phone lock bag: <a href="https://youtu.be/nwK8kAVNrrI">https://youtu.be/nwK8kAVNrrI</a></li><li>Better recording here: <a href="https://youtu.be/wrrPZU_-jjA">https://youtu.be/wrrPZU_-jjA</a> (this one appears to have been removed)</li><li>A recording of the previous night: <a href="https://youtu.be/P-yNR855s3g">https://youtu.be/P-yNR855s3g</a> </li><li>I loved the show. My attention was fixed the whole time.</li><li>Oh my God they ended with a cover of Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil" which was amazing. (Better recording: <a href="https://youtu.be/YZj3pjskjPU">https://youtu.be/YZj3pjskjPU </a>Bootleg recording, from same source as above: <a href="https://youtu.be/TmNBhpQtqz8">https://youtu.be/TmNBhpQtqz8</a>) From my post on <i><a href="https://expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=103079&p=2048895#p2048895">Expecting Rain</a></i>: </li><ul></ul></ul><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Oh My God, they closed with "Friend of the Devil" on the June 11th Oakland show! Crowd went berserk! The version was absolutely beautiful, one of the best sounding songs of the evening. I was stunned. I was expecting "Every Grain of Sand" (and now I want to hear that live), because I'd read the set lists and I knew they had been unchanged for many shows. I think it's very cheeky of Bob to replace one of his most explicitly Christian songs with "Friend of the Devil". But Bob's always loved a little shock/blasphemy to make you sit up in your seat. </blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">After the band introductions, there was a brief huddle on stage between Bob, one of the guitarists, and one of the other musicians (I forget who). It wasn't more than a second or two. I saw some heads nod, and then they went it to it. It sounded excellent, the way the guitar parts interacted, and the way Dylan's vocal sort of floated on top of it, with more extended, "legato" phrasing than on the Grateful Dead studio recording of the sone we're all familiar with. I don't think it was slapped together on the spot, it sounded too good for that. (But of course I know musicians who tour and record with Dylan have to be ready for sudden changes, so maybe it was?) There was such palpable love for the song from Dylan, and it was the one song where the whole crowd was on its feet.</blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Leaving the show, I checked in with another fan who had been at the other Oakland shows, and he confirmed that this was unique to tonight's show. What a treat! What a gift!</blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">I seriously hope there's a good recording of this. It's a treasure.</blockquote></blockquote><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The band sounded very good to me. (I'm not comparing it to the same band on other stops of the tour, just to my own expectations of how good a band should be.) I want that band to be my band. They seemed to be able to slip into grooves effortlessly. They were intensely focused on Dylan, and seemed to be taking cues from him and giving space for his vocals. I do wish Dylan would let them cut loose a bit: I suspect they were under-utilized. </li><li>Set list (from <i><a href="https://expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=102985&start=25#p2048873">Expecting Rain</a></i>):</li></ul><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Oakland, California</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">Fox Theater</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">June 11, 2022</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">1. Watching The River Flow (Bob center stage on guitar then on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">2. Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I'll Go Mine) (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">3. I Contain Multitudes (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">4. False Prophet (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">5. When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">6. Black Rider (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">7. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (Bob on piano with harp intro)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">8. My Own Version of You (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">9. Crossing The Rubicon (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">10. To Be Alone With You (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">11. Key West (Philosopher Pirate) (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">12. Gotta Serve Somebody (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">13. I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">14. Melancholy Mood (Bob center stage)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">15. Mother of Muses (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">16. Goodbye Jimmy Reed (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">-- Band introductions</span></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span face="Lucida Grande, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 13px;">17. Friend of the Devil (Bob on piano)</span></span></div></blockquote></blockquote><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Dylan seemed very frail. He couldn't stand for very long at all. He sang Melancholy Mood standing at the mic. It's a short song, but it looked as though he couldn't make it through. He seemed much more comfortable when seated. </li><li>Dylan's voice was very expressive and he seemed emotionally present and invested. (Again, I'm not comparing it to other shows on this tour: the Dylanologists are constantly tracking his vocal health between shows.) His voice is a gargled wreck of a ruin of itself. In some ways, it's very sad. But sometimes what he does with that wreck of a voice is so expressive. Especially the songs from the <i>Rough and Rowdy Ways</i> album, which were often written for that voice.</li><li>Dylan seemed like he was having a great time and enjoying performing. </li><li>Dylan was not presented particularly well: he was behind an upright piano most of the concert. He wore a stylish hat with a brim the prevented the light from fully hitting his face. There were some lights shining on the audience throughout the show which made the performers harder to see. I wish there had been a screen with a closeup on his face like they sometimes have at arena concerts. I think I'd just put Bob in a nice chair and let him sing, and let other musicians handle the instruments. </li><li>I didn't particularly care for Dylan's piano playing much of the time. During verses and choruses it was perfectly serviceable, but when he soloed I felt it was weak. He just doesn't have the technique or melodic intuition on the instrument, and he suffered in comparison to the other musicians who just seemed so fluid and tight. </li><li>I stayed masked the whole time. I hope I didn't get COViD. </li><li>Show was about 100 minutes long. No intermission.</li><li>Individual song comments:</li><ul><li>Watching the River Flow: nice guitar solo to open up, sounded much better than much of his piano playing. </li><li>Most Likely You Go Your Way: Of all the songs from <i>Blonde on Blonde</i>, why pick this one?</li><li>I Contain Multitudes: I really like this song. I think his voice is a better fit for this one than the previous two. Similar to the album, but I think there were some different words at the beginning. </li><li>False Prophet: This had a more minimal presentation than on the album, with a traditional blues lick. </li><li>When I Paint My Masterpiece: All the songs Bob sang were songs I could really picture an 80 year old singing. The older the song (and this is an old one), the more different the version was than the recorded version.</li><li>Black Rider: This worked very well live. Similar to the album version. </li><li>I'll Be Your Baby Tonight: I liked this one. Nice harmonica intro from Bob (better than his piano playing), and I liked the boogie-woogie treatment this got; very different than the country version on <i>Nashville Skyline</i>. This band can get groovy so easily. </li><li>My Own Version of You: I liked this one live better than on the album. The live version had a nice spooky "ghost story around the campfire" vibe. </li><li>Crossing the Rubicon: This version had an extra chord in it to try to increase the tension before the final line in each verse ("...and crossed the Rubicon) but I didn't like that extra chord. I like this song, but prefer the album version. </li><li>To Be Alone With You: A very different take on this song.</li><li>Key West (Philosopher Pirate): This song tries to cast a spell on you. This spell doesn't work on me. I don't like the album version and I didn't like the live version. It rambles. It talks about how great Key West is, but I don't know, I just don't find myself caring that much. </li><li>Gotta Serve Somebody: Very groovy version. Very Christian. Very different words than on the album. </li><li>I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You: After this song, my wife said, "You have to learn this one for me", and I probably will. It's so beautiful. I do prefer the album version, but my wife liked the live version better. The "oo oo oo oo oo oo oo" background vocal part was played by the guitar in this live version, and I like the human vocal better. Great fusion of romantic and religious devotion in this song. One of my favorites from <i>Rough and Rowdy Ways</i>. </li><li>Melancholy Mood: A short Sinatra tune (I think, or one he made famous at any rate). Fun to see Bob come out from behind the piano, but I was worried he'd fall over. In the 2010s, Bob recorded five albums worth of jazz standards, many of which were performed by Sinatra. And his concerts were dominated by this material. I didn't follow Bob into Sinatra land, but you can hear how it informed his vocal delivery when you listen to <i>Rough and Rowdy Ways</i>. </li><li>Mother of Muses: I like this song. Not too different from the album version. </li><li>Goodbye Jimmy Reed: When Bob sang this to us live, it struck me as even more about himself than it does on the album. The Christian influence is strong here, but it comes filtered through a blues persona. "Thump on the Bible and proclaim a creed!"</li><li>Friend of the Devil: see above. It was beautiful. It was a surprise. </li></ul><li>I was sad we didn't get a live version of "Murder Most Foul", the 17-minute masterpiece incantation that concludes <i>Rough and Rowdy</i> ways. I think this band could have underscored it beautifully. </li><li>So glad I went!</li></ul><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul></ul></ul><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-55564032632114099752021-10-23T02:02:00.003+03:302021-10-23T02:55:58.588+03:30Thoughts on "Dune" 2021 Movie<p> I don't like writing proper reviews; I generally just like to put down my thoughts:</p><p>Preamble stuff:<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I'm coming from the perspective of someone who read the books, but a long time ago. I probably read the original <i>Dune</i> twice, once when I was a kid and once again as a young adult. I've seen the David Lynch movie, but not the miniseries that came out in the early 2000s.</li><li>I saw it at home on HBO Max. We have a 65" HD TV and a sound bar, so we can have a relatively cinematic experience at home, but it's not like a theater. This does seem to be something where you want as big a picture and as powerful a sound system as you can have.</li></ul><div>Opinions:</div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I like it overall. It feels big. It looks beautiful. It aspires to a tradition of grand cinema in a way that a lot of things these days don't even try for.</li><li>The Bene Gesserit are pretty spooky, which is good. The Guild Navigators weren't as creepy: they just looked like people in "Among Us" suits full of orange gas. </li><li>I like the ornithopters. They really feel insectoid, and just feel physically plausible to me. Of course, I don't know much about actual aviation. But I totally want to fly one.</li><li>The Harkonnens really look like bad guys, which is what they are. Glad they didn't do the "homosexuality as manifestation of Baron Harkonnen's evil" thing that the novel did. </li><li>I liked the famous "gom jabbar" scene, and how we really feel Jessica's fear for her son. </li><li>Jason Moma is great as Duncan Idaho. He's so charismatic. </li><li>Oscar Isaac is charismatic, too. So is Timothée Chalamet. There's a lot of cinematic charisma floating around, which is good, because the characters don't get a lot of "actorly" time. This aint Chekhov. This is a spectacle. So the ability to be compelling without having a lot to do is very useful for the actors. </li><li>I like the slow pacing. </li><li>The shots of Caladan just before Paul leaves for Arrakis are a bit cheesy. They stood out because </li><li>All the issues of imperialism and "white savior" that were present in the novel (and which later parts of the story flip more dramatically) are in the movie. I think we do get some Fremen perspectives, but the parallels between "Fremen" and Middle Eastern folks can't be ignored, and you still get the perspective that the Atreides are "us" and the Fremen are "the other". I think that's pretty "baked in". </li><li>I was surprised that the movie covered only the first part of the first book: even though I had heard that, I still was surprised. I, of course, want to see more, but it'll be a long time. I don't think it was artificially stretched: <i>Dune</i> is a big book with lots of stuff in it. </li><li>Sandworms were pretty cool and big. </li><li>We're watching Succession on HBO Max right now, and I thought it would be really funny if the Emperor put the Roy family in charge of spice production on Dune. </li><li>I always pictured those hunter-seeker assassin drones bigger than that. </li><li>Sometimes I had trouble hearing the dialogue because it was </li><li>The Hans Zimmer soundtrack was very Hans Zimmer, which is mostly a good thing. </li><li>This is a very Denis Villeneuve movie. If you liked his previous stuff (<i>Arrival, Blade Runner 2049)</i>, you'll like this. </li><li>I've heard some people on Twitter comment that Paul's "visions" are the director saying "Look at all the cool stuff you get to see if I get to make part 2!" It'll be a long time before that comes out, though. </li><li>I'm not sure the shields add much to the story. They make physical combat a bit hard to understand. Supposedly, fast attacks get blocked, and slower strikes can push through. But in a lot of the combat scenes, things seem to happen pretty fast. I think we want our action scenes to be fast, especially when Duncan Idaho is fighting multiple opponents. But the shields are supposed to change that up. I think the fight choreographers really need to think about what fighting would really look and feel like in a world where shields are ubiquitous. But I think the answer is that fighting would look weird and not fun for the viewer, who has been trained by action movies of various genres about what to expect. So maybe they should just drop shields entirely, or modify shields in whatever way they need to in order to make fighting look cool. </li><li>They don't talk about mentats very much, though you do see their eyes go white while they think about stuff. You see that both House Atreides and House Harkonen have them. But we don't get much explanation on who they are or what they do or why they exist, or why there aren't computers. </li></ul><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-26804831834255776612021-04-23T22:12:00.002+04:302021-04-23T22:12:22.220+04:30Some thoughts on Dylan's "Murder Most Foul"<p> Originally <a href="https://expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=99119&start=1575#p1978388">posted on the Expecting Rain forum</a>:</p><p><br /></p><p>Some thoughts on "Murder Most Foul", after over a year:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>It works on me. I'm in the "it's a masterpiece" camp. I can tell you a story about why I think it is, but I'm not certain that would be the real story. ("Key West" on the other hand, does not bind me with its spell--somehow that one I look at from the outside, rather than get pulled in.)</li><li>I think the central conflict in the song is between overwhelming cynicism and evil, represented by the killing of Kennedy, and the power of music to heal wounds and offer solace in the face of despair. I think Dylan has music "win" the battle, but it's not obvious. But at the end, "Murder Most Foul" no longer refers to the assassination so hideously depicted earlier in the song: it now refers to the song itself, and it is the last shot fired in Dylan's barrage of DJ Wolfman Jack invocations against hopelessness. This is a great bit of sleight-of-hand as well as a bit of braggadocio, but who's gonna argue that Dylan can't put himself in that cavalcade? Not me.</li><li>In the first group of lines ("Twas a dark day in Dallas" through "Rub-a-dub-dub...", the assassination dominates, and the Wolfman (who often began his show with a howl) is invoked for the first time, but does not get any requests.</li><li>In the second group of lines ("Hush lil children..." to "business is business"), the theme of music being a balm or comfort is invoked, but it doesn't seem fully up to the task. The Beatles holding your hand can't possibly console us for this death, the optimism of Woodstock segues quickly to Altamont and its notorious killings. The Wolfman doesn't show up here, but the song invocations are beginning to slip in. But the Kennedy assassination imagery still dominates.</li><li>In the third group of lines ("Tommy can you hear me..." through "It is what it is...") the dark imagery dominates as we enter in and out of Kennedy's point of view. We do manage to get the radio on, but that's about it. There are a lot of song allusions, but they are in the service of the depiction of the grisly events; they don't offer solace.</li><li>In the fourth and final group of lines ("What's New Pussycat?..." through the end), the battle is really joined. After the first line, we get three lines of bleakness: I said the soul of a nation been torn away /It’s beginning to go down into a slow decay / And that it’s thirty-six hours past judgment day. In response, the Wolfman reappears, "speaking in tongues", perhaps infused with divine power. At last, the invocation is made explicit: "Play me song, Mr. Wolfman Jack..." Now the musical invocations begin to dominate. They don't dispel the pain or drive it off: many of the selections are clearly infused with the grief and violence of the situation. And the lurid, grotesque imagery still interjects itself, e.g. "Stand there and wait for his head to explode". The personification of the assassins get in one more couplet: "Brothers? What brothers? What’s this about hell? /Tell ‘em we’re waitin’- keep coming - we’ll get ‘em as well". But after a few more lines about the aftermath of the killing it's almost all song requests, and the overall balance of the final section is very tilted towards the musical invocations. The tone of the background instrumentation shifts as well, sounding more hopeful. The musicians get the last word, even if that last word is a reference to the heinous act that we've been trying to console ourselves about.</li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Other thoughts:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Was Dylan thinking, "Hmm...the first original song I release after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016. Better be a good one!" I'd be really nervous if it were me.</li><li>I think the narrator of the song is clearly immersed in Kennedy assassination conspiracy lore, and seems to believe sinister forces were behind the act. Whether or not Dylan believes it, I don't know. Dylan is a great channeler of the American spirit: he could be just representing that angle because that's what the despair and bleakness of the act requires for the song: it's too big and catastrophic an act not to be part of something scripted by a powerful "they" (into whom the point of view sometimes steps, becoming "we"), think it's always tricky how much to identify Dylan with the narrators in his songs. But if I had to guess, it does seem that Dylan gives credence to the idea of a wider conspiracy.</li></ul><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-71485156753332114762021-02-21T08:30:00.057+03:302021-04-08T22:32:15.490+04:30Where is 56th and Wabasha? "Meet Me in the Morning" Dylan Mystery Solved<h1 style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJlbF3T7DQdSbEE5AL3T8btnt9TIdVHW9ZqmuGgd6B6M04EPPIUDQF27f6-VnLanchM8MKyo0uZg1PA5OXPMt0Yh7N1ZCThNDs11QKm8w_19nCrguwFwCbT3tCX_ne7tvUDc7/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="519" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqJlbF3T7DQdSbEE5AL3T8btnt9TIdVHW9ZqmuGgd6B6M04EPPIUDQF27f6-VnLanchM8MKyo0uZg1PA5OXPMt0Yh7N1ZCThNDs11QKm8w_19nCrguwFwCbT3tCX_ne7tvUDc7/w519-h519/imgonline-com-ua-Transparent-background-7stprSiyjLVYdKuz.png" width="519" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Mcz5zhDfxNSl6cr_7VMrb7IJ5of_BGXpQWKLhkmA7uxguCZIxOuRzHQXkFCa_NDKDE35szqq-zggsCHNZLeqnlz45HiBDxXGmVRFW1CccSoBjteGc0Hmlccx7eV2VqIdl4u_/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="207" data-original-width="696" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Mcz5zhDfxNSl6cr_7VMrb7IJ5of_BGXpQWKLhkmA7uxguCZIxOuRzHQXkFCa_NDKDE35szqq-zggsCHNZLeqnlz45HiBDxXGmVRFW1CccSoBjteGc0Hmlccx7eV2VqIdl4u_/w526-h156/Screen+Shot+2021-02-25+at+1.35.10+PM.png" width="526" /></a></div><br /></div></div></h1><h1 style="text-align: left;">Short version</h1><p>The lyric is not "Fifty-sixth and Wabasha", it is actually "Fifty-six and Wabasha", referring to the intersection of old Minnesota Highway 56 and Wabasha Street in Saint Paul, Minnesota. If you listen, you can hear Dylan sing "fifty-six", rather than "fifty-sixth", particularly on the take that was released as the B-side to "Duquesne Whistle". Minnesota Highway 56 no longer intersects Wabasha Street, but from 1963 to 1974 it did intersect Wabasha Street, at what is now (in Feb. 2021) the intersection of George Street and Cesar Chavez Street in St. Paul, or possibly South Wabasha & Cesar Chavez. </p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Long Version</h1><p>"Meet Me in the Morning" is the first song on side two of Bob Dylan's celebrated 1975 album <i>Blood on the Tracks. </i>In the opening lines of the song, according to the <a href="https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/meet-me-morning/">lyrics on Bob Dylan's official site</a> (https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/meet-me-morning/), the narrator invites the listener to a rendezvous at a specific intersection: </p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;">Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha</span><span style="font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;">
Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha</span></span></span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;"></span><p></p><p>Numerous Dylan fans have naturally wondered where 56th and Wabasha is, or if it even exists. If you do a Google Maps search for "56th and Wabasha", nothing comes up: you get sent to the town of Wabasha, Minnesota, which does not have a 56th Street. </p><p>There is a Wabasha Street in St. Paul, Minnesota:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSIQt7ogGp1cUhFk1XfIKrtEZtz_ua0YwSifqbdq4ibf1QtVBCiRqHE0e-8xGLCAhw16CxlJ28mlrpakiWw25fAIbYuyDoiODD_9yhrDMk5vkEJGpgf6p-sG7uePzJkOluqBW6/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1482" data-original-width="1716" height="410" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSIQt7ogGp1cUhFk1XfIKrtEZtz_ua0YwSifqbdq4ibf1QtVBCiRqHE0e-8xGLCAhw16CxlJ28mlrpakiWw25fAIbYuyDoiODD_9yhrDMk5vkEJGpgf6p-sG7uePzJkOluqBW6/w475-h410/image.png" width="475" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But as you can see, it dead-ends into the state Capitol at 12th street, and never intersects a 56th street. Indeed according to Google Maps there is not a 56th Street in all of St. Paul, MN. There's also a Wabasha in Duluth, MN, where Dylan was born, but it, too, doesn't intersect a 56th street. This has lead most Dylan fans and speculators to conclude that the location of the proposed meeting is fictional, and that "fifty-sixth" was chosen for metrical, phonetic, or other reasons. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Highway 56 Thesis</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">However, my colleague Brendan Dunn, a specialist in the urban geography of the Twin Cities, provided a key insight that allows for a much more literal reading:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><blockquote><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Are you sure it’s “56th” and not “56”? From 1963 to 1974 Minnesota State Highway 56 would have intersected with Wabasha St at what’s now the intersection of George St and Cesar Chavez St in Saint Paul.</span></span></blockquote></div>Here's the intersection in question:<div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCQjMfawFalp-3EeS2LVr8099NM-zFL8VT32mJrKKiKR64A8jifsXi375E7FWj9zDRfOJ8FK9O2OGDcfI3IWsyU2OkSehkJWG4PCNkk760ojAK3GRSLoSdYiJojmqsEcZS4h9/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1568" data-original-width="1740" height="421" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirCQjMfawFalp-3EeS2LVr8099NM-zFL8VT32mJrKKiKR64A8jifsXi375E7FWj9zDRfOJ8FK9O2OGDcfI3IWsyU2OkSehkJWG4PCNkk760ojAK3GRSLoSdYiJojmqsEcZS4h9/w467-h421/image.png" width="467" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And indeed, a quick checkup on the <a href="http://www.steve-riner.com/mnhighways/r51-75.htm#56">history of Minnesota Highway 56</a> confirms that its route has changed (http://www.steve-riner.com/mnhighways/r51-75.htm#56):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><blockquote><span style="background-color: black; color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span>[Minnesota 56] Constitutional Route between I-90 and U.S. 52, rest authorized 1933. Formerly extended far north of its current terminus at U.S. 52. It followed U.S. 52 to Concord Avenue (now Dakota CSAH 56 and </span><span>MN-156</span><span>), then </span><span>followed Concord Avenue into St. Paul to Wabasha</span><span>. </span></span></blockquote></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A <a href="https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4144sm.g04379195005/?sp=19&r=-0.345,0.296,1.289,0.643,0">fire insurance map (1904-1950)</a> showing Wabasha intersecting with Concord (thanks to <a href="https://expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=100625#p1969110">dbernsey_uno at Expecting Rain</a> for finding this):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIJEoG0GhYtNziJji3i9nQrPQNSizcCEXq8fD2gyufndt2BUTTrFy3smnpR0djatYLajcP4yNIeV1IuP08aQWvU7zmbTkAve-zUmE9Z2zX3Q6yUKq1DBX3tHCDs-_JKs7cBaFw/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="1138" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIJEoG0GhYtNziJji3i9nQrPQNSizcCEXq8fD2gyufndt2BUTTrFy3smnpR0djatYLajcP4yNIeV1IuP08aQWvU7zmbTkAve-zUmE9Z2zX3Q6yUKq1DBX3tHCDs-_JKs7cBaFw/w634-h294/Screen+Shot+2021-02-23+at+10.54.17+AM.png" width="634" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here's an old map (from <a href=" https://www.interstate-guide.com/i-494-mn/">Interstate Guide</a>: https://www.interstate-guide.com/i-494-mn/) showing the route of Minnesota Highway 56:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUJKZDxJ93Q-Ce8cwINjmvq3686PC2j6eZ_-mf0gijdnKbftDhFC97mO7fvFTxTERMyoFUQH0pk9W_yE0MJfcwwUwL4jFiYBIzLuhcH0Lv4Q-0BBSObGd9WiJ910QZYPOXM0V/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="843" height="423" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEUJKZDxJ93Q-Ce8cwINjmvq3686PC2j6eZ_-mf0gijdnKbftDhFC97mO7fvFTxTERMyoFUQH0pk9W_yE0MJfcwwUwL4jFiYBIzLuhcH0Lv4Q-0BBSObGd9WiJ910QZYPOXM0V/w478-h423/image.png" width="478" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">And another from the <a href=" https://www.interstate-guide.com/i-494-mn/">same source</a>:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT1jSs3aoDCTjfm3iVJRDNioBjAi5BWTaRo2lXqkveLgmXEPpl3AJae-6Kjmi4N9sdsxestGKQEa1MPIguQmwoK6TJyLCRC86uSewQBtTiUcChgKcvYpCGddll-MTVst1IwVkd/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="1349" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT1jSs3aoDCTjfm3iVJRDNioBjAi5BWTaRo2lXqkveLgmXEPpl3AJae-6Kjmi4N9sdsxestGKQEa1MPIguQmwoK6TJyLCRC86uSewQBtTiUcChgKcvYpCGddll-MTVst1IwVkd/w508-h305/image.png" width="508" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>And here's a map from <a href="https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/mdt:1240?pn=false#/image/1?searchText=&viewer=OSD_VIEWER">Minnesota Digital Library</a> (https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/mdt:1240?pn=false#/image/1?searchText=&viewer=OSD_VIEWER) with Wabasha Street and Highway 56 labeled, and the intersection visible:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgOvSMfxvBwY3enlzjAMv-XI6tUbBeSkT5jJInWJUBxDWv7xj1ouAMA6HnRrvoYiD9T277aB_FnzVoQBE8RWa5uUOSuKL3LoSFI98tiaylMYkUD3oQLlE-_7-BKw9sxLrfKzB/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1135" data-original-width="1996" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEgOvSMfxvBwY3enlzjAMv-XI6tUbBeSkT5jJInWJUBxDWv7xj1ouAMA6HnRrvoYiD9T277aB_FnzVoQBE8RWa5uUOSuKL3LoSFI98tiaylMYkUD3oQLlE-_7-BKw9sxLrfKzB/w509-h289/image.png" width="509" /></a></div><br /><br />So clearly, around the time of the recording of <i>Blood on the Tracks</i> (September 1974 for "Meet Me in the Morning") there was an intersection of Minnesota Highway 56 and Wabasha. Could Dylan have been referring to this St. Paul intersection in the opening lines of "Meet Me in the Morning"? I argue that the answer is yes, and that the standard interpretation of the lyric is wrong: it should be "fifty-six and Wabasha", not "fifty-sixth and Wabasha", as most sources (including <a href="https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/meet-me-morning/">Dylan's official site</a>, (https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/meet-me-morning/) have it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What did this intersection look like?</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This image, via Minnesota Historical Society, from 1969 is <a href="http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/largerimage?irn=10096288&catirn=10707798&return=q%3Dwabasha%2520south%26spatial%5B%5D%3DRamsey%2520County%26yearrange%3D1950-1980">Wabasha Street and Channel Street</a>, which is about about block northwest of Wabasha & Concord. Unfortunately, the image looks northeast, rather than southeast towards our meeting spot:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnNuONyl7iLmIuecQb4232dWbXdt20uQDOsmrJAFCeGMrdFgaE6yCD79v4EyhpzzZ0BYzS9-i3_bVF0qMogAr_ahV21cNEPNiDwslTiJj0vVIxK9Mph7uX52s-8Sf-jv4r2xa6/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="640" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnNuONyl7iLmIuecQb4232dWbXdt20uQDOsmrJAFCeGMrdFgaE6yCD79v4EyhpzzZ0BYzS9-i3_bVF0qMogAr_ahV21cNEPNiDwslTiJj0vVIxK9Mph7uX52s-8Sf-jv4r2xa6/w597-h328/pf022916.jpg" width="597" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Would you meet Bob Dylan in the morning here?</i></div></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p>Subsequent analysis shows it is possible that the Highway 56 & Wabasha intersection was a few blocks northwest, at what is now South Wabasha and Cesar Chavez: the streets were renamed quite a bit and there was a good deal of building re-designating going on throughout the era. If this is the case, then this <a href="http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10857203&return=imagesonly%3Dyes%26q%3Dwabasha%2520south%26spatial%5B%5D%3DRamsey%2520County%26yearrange%3D1950-1980">1954 image from the same source</a> shows the intersection: we're looking south along Wabasha; Highway 56 would come in from the left about 4 blocks in the distance from were the viewer is standing:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtz7oA17aYSCZKIgsed9QZSGUcWBO8g-jtJMfPX7lGXibqkkGlMwBRDYG6YaQBsu2wlfxNxoZD9N-I5XjgEM3v8DGUvMHXYrW_iKSzxzYvClnm8xKs_Gng4Jvdjue5hEgSQAdq/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="604" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtz7oA17aYSCZKIgsed9QZSGUcWBO8g-jtJMfPX7lGXibqkkGlMwBRDYG6YaQBsu2wlfxNxoZD9N-I5XjgEM3v8DGUvMHXYrW_iKSzxzYvClnm8xKs_Gng4Jvdjue5hEgSQAdq/w581-h462/pf093184.jpg" width="581" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Any blood on these tracks?</i></div><br /><p></p><div>So, certainly Highway 56 and Wabasha exists. Now the question is, is Dylan singing about this junction that exists, or is he singing about an imaginary intersection on a very real street?</div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">What is Dylan actually singing on the recordings we have available?</h2></div></div><p></p><p>The most striking piece of evidence in support of the Highway 56 thesis the sung lyric from the recordings themselves. If you listen to what Dylan is actually singing, you can hear he's singing "fifty-six", not "fifty-sixth". While this is somewhat hard to discern in the <a href="(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE6-uc1zr3s">version on </a><i><a href="(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE6-uc1zr3s">Blood on the Tracks</a> </i>(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE6-uc1zr3s), it is clearer in the <a href="https://vimeo.com/180303449#t=54s">alternate take</a> that first appeared as the b-side of "Duquesne Whistle" and later appeared on the 6-disc <i>The Bootleg Series, Vol 14: More Blood, More Tracks</i> compilation: https://vimeo.com/180303449#t=54s.</p><p>From my colleague Kevin Feely:</p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> I’ve listened to all of the takes of the song on <i>More Blood, More tracks</i> and . . . I can’t hear a “th” sound for the life of me. To me it sounds very clearly like he is saying “56” especially on takes 2 and 3. I always assumed before he was saying “56th.” Amazing how Dylan can continue to surprise and delight us all of these years later.</span></blockquote><p>In addition, we know that Dylan is willing to sing about highways and refer to them by number: the song and album <i>Highway 61 Revisited</i> attest to that. </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Didn't Dyan write the words down somewhere?</h3><div>Unfortunately, probably not, at least not in any source I have come across. There's a famous <i>Blood on the Tracks </i>notebook, but "Meet Me in the Morning" is one of the few songs not in it, according to the book <i>Still on the Road</i> by Clinton Heylin. </div><div><br /></div><div>But actually, there are three Blood on the Tracks notebooks, and <a href="https://www.nodepression.com/bob-dylans-three-blood-on-the-tracks-notebooks-not-just-red/">the answer we are looking for might be there</a>:</div><div><blockquote><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The two Tulsa notebooks, catalogued simply as Notebook 5 (the coverless one) and Notebook 6 (the blue one), are undated, with few clues as to exactly when or where they were written. Almost every page of them is heavily revised, with sometimes scarcely legible scribbles above, below, and in the margins, next to the lines in the middle of pages that were presumably written first. Dylan returns to everything, writing up the sides and adding words in parentheses, or not, between the lines. He uses plain black or blue ballpoint most often, with corrections and changes in the same color. Sometimes he uses a pencil, and the legibility worsens. His words, phrases, parentheticals spill out in the same thought-go, or were maybe added an hour, a day, or months later. There is no way of telling, other than to ask him. The extent of his revising is staggering; one thing pouring out of his songwriting is the perfectionism. Even his fellow Nobel laureate W.B. Yeats’ convoluted drafts are not so ubiquitously utterly changed.</span></span></p><p style="border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">In places Dylan’s tiny printing is as tidy as if he had already planned the lines in his head, while in others he veers into a swifter, far harder-to-decipher semi-cursive. What is clear, however, is the astonishing fact that Dylan was conceiving and composing multiple songs at the same time — in the same breath, same thought. In many instances, he does not separate songs, or will do so rudimentarily, with a dash or in a parallel column on the same page. He veers from “Simple Twist of Fate” (a song initially called “Snowbound,” then “4th Street Affair”) to “Tangled Up In Blue” (also titled “Blue Carnation I” and “Dusty-Blues”) to </span><span style="background-color: #01ffff;"><span style="color: #666666;">“Meet Me In the Morning”</span></span><span style="background-color: black; color: white;"> and back again. Everything is happening in his head at once.</span></p></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh hear it is, folks: <a href="http://bobdylanarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/bob-dylan-archive-public-finding-aid-2017-11-04.pdf">The Dylan Archive Finding Guide</a>! It mentions "Meet Me in the Morning" three times:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Box 18, Folder 06: “Meet Me in the Morning” typescript copyright edits (1974, Blood on the
Tracks). </li><li>Box 65, Folder 01: “Meet Me in the Morning” original sheet music</li><li>Box 99, Folder 06: Small notebook 6, circa 1974. Includes lyrics to “Meet Me In The Morning,”
“You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go,” “Idiot Wind,” “Simple Twist Of Fate,” “Tangled Up In Blue,” “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of
Hearts,” and “Shelter From The Storm.”</li></ul><div>I'm pretty sure that compelling proof or refutation exists in these three archive items. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh dude, it turns out that <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/rthomas">Harvard Dylan scholar Professor Richard F. Thomas</a>, author of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0722XJS3S/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">Why Bob Dylan Matters</a></i>, has contemplated the 56 & Wabasha crux, and he has had access to the archival materials mentioned above. Here’s what he says in his book:</div><div></div><blockquote><div>Finally, for more than forty-two years, like countless others I have had in my head this version of the first verse on the album’s song “Meet Me in the Morning”:</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha</i></div><div><i>Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha</i></div><div><i>We could be in Kansas By the time the snow begins to thaw</i></div><div><br /></div><div>In those days before Google Maps or any Internet at all, I had no idea where Wabasha might be, not that it really mattered. It in fact turned out to be in Minnesota, where it runs through downtown St. Paul, south across the Mississippi. There is no Fifty-Sixth Street in St. Paul, but Wabasha does intersect with Fifth Street and Sixth Street, a few blocks west of Highway 61 and eight miles east of Dinkytown, the place Bob Dylan spent those sixteen months honing his musical skills before heading to New York City in January 1961. On page 1 of the blue notebook there is a different beginning to the verse, with only the ending surviving the process of rewriting:</div></blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Meet me in the morning [illegible] we could have a ball<br />My grandfather had a farm but all he ever raised was the dead<br />He had the keys to the kingdom but all he ever opened was his head <br />Meet me in the morning, it’s the brightest day you ever saw<br />We could be in Kansas by the time the snow begins to thaw</i></div></blockquote><blockquote style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;">There are currently hundreds of books on Bob Dylan, the best of them clocking in at six hundred to nine hundred pages. We are only started on the long road that is the phenomenon of Dylanology. As Dylan sang on “Mississippi,” “Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow / Things could start to get interesting right about now.”</p></blockquote><blockquote><div></div></blockquote><h3 style="text-align: left;">Summary of Email Correspondence with Harvard Professor Richard F. Thomas</h3><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Unfortunately, according to Thomas, the answer is probably not in the archive, at least not in the notebooks mentioned. He thinks that the only "Meet Me in the Morning" lyrics in the archive are the ones quoted above, so probably no resolution to "56" vs. "56th" will be forthcoming from Tulsa. He did recommend I write to the archive and ask about this. </li><li>Professor Thomas agrees that you do not hear a "th", but that we can't base too much on that, because it's very possible that the "ksthand" sound of "sixth and" shifts to "ksand" in a "linguistic glide". I agree with him on this: hearing "th" would be fatal to our hypothesis, but NOT hearing doesn't prove it. Unfortunately, according to an online Dylan concordance, Dylan never sings "sixth" in any other lyric, so we can't listen and compare. (If you know of an instance, point it out!). He does sing "fourth", "fifth", and "seventh", but the consonant combination is different. <br style="background-color: #f0ece0; color: #271b08; font-family: "Lucida Grande", "Trebuchet MS", Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /></li><li>The "We could be in Kansas" line does appear as it ends up on <i>Blood on the Tracks</i>. This implies that the Kansas line was written first, and that "56 and Wabasha" was chosen partially to rhyme with "snow begins to thaw". If anything, this strengthens our hypothesis, because "56 and Wabasha" has a stronger Kansas connection than "56th and Wabasha". </li><li>Professor Thomas thinks calling the intersection of Highway 56 and Wabasha Street "56 and Wabasha" is weird. He thinks it would be more like "Route 56 and Wabasha". But Professor Thomas is British, grew up in New Zealand, and lives on the East Coast of the US, so I don't think he's familiar with this way of referring to roads. As a Minnesotan, I'm going to say that referring to intersections in this way is pretty typical: My high school is near 100 and Glennwood, meaning Highway 100 and Glenwood Avenue. We wouldn't say "highway" or "route" necessarily. The Mall of America is at 77 and 494 (Highway 77 and Interstate 494). The airport entrance is near 5 and Snelling Lake Road. The United States has a lot of regional variation in how roads are referenced. (In LA, Interstate 5 is "The Five", while in Seattle, it's "I-Five" and NEVER "The Five", at least when I was there in the 1990s.) (I'd be interested in other Minnesotans chiming in on this; the ones who have done so thusfar have backed my position 100%.)</li><li>The biggest blow to the theory is that Dylan's official lyric books (which have the "56th" reading) were not 100% done by others. He "had a hand" (Thomas's words) in editing them, particularly the 2016 edition, and he let the "56th" reading stand and didn't correct it. Now I don't know how "big a hand" Dylan had in the editing, so this isn't fatal to the theory. And Dylan hasn't played this song live EVER, except when Jack White came on and sang the song as a guest at Dylan's show in 2007. The audio is not of sufficient clarity to distinguish 56/56th, and in any case I would expect Jack White to sing the standard "56th" interpretation. And the lyrics on the official site do contain some huge differences from the released versions, e.g. "<a href="https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/if-you-see-her-say-hello/">If You See Her, Say Hello</a>": "If you see her, say hello, she might be in Tangier / It’s the city ’cross the water, not too far from here"</li></ul></div></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Rail Connection</h2><p>Another piece of supporting evidence: Heading south on Minnesota Highway 56 would be a plausible start to a journey from St. Paul, MN to Kansas. Though why the speaker wouldn't want to take Interstate 35, I don't know. It could be because I-35 was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_35#History">not yet complete</a>. </p><p>Brendan Dunn again:</p><p><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="font-size: 15px;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Highway 56 is more a local connector than a through route, and all the highways in that area lead generally southeast following the Mississippi. But after talking to my son, I think you’re thinking of the wrong form of transportation. The album is <i>Blood on the Tracks</i>, and the alternative version [is] on [the B-side of] “Duquesne Whistle”. The intersection is within a few blocks of a Union Pacific train yard on a line which leads eventually to... Kansas City, Kansas.</span></blockquote><p></p><p>So one possible reading is that the narrator is inviting the listener to meet at the small business district at Highway 56 and Wabasha to get some breakfast, coffee, and supplies before hopping a freight train to Kansas. </p><p>Some Google satellite imagery shows how 56 & Wabasha would be a good meeting place if you wanted to meet in a business district before hopping a train. Google maps says the track is a 10 minute walk away, but the Wellstone Center didn't exist in the 1963-74 timeframe when this intersection existed, so it was probable a more direct route could have been taken, resulting in a 5 minute walk:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtLlyC7lTS9GCS6d7Rcaubce7_GSzEcPlFoizAiGCvWydCIbXLdp9-SKqVFiNflVhZxY0jsDt5sJOtEzbNHPiPLj7PcfZcr2lJlnboQj9hAeNHmNZ9SSabVwCCxcYZKdrEYdp/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="693" height="537" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUtLlyC7lTS9GCS6d7Rcaubce7_GSzEcPlFoizAiGCvWydCIbXLdp9-SKqVFiNflVhZxY0jsDt5sJOtEzbNHPiPLj7PcfZcr2lJlnboQj9hAeNHmNZ9SSabVwCCxcYZKdrEYdp/w510-h537/Screen+Shot+2021-02-21+at+2.34.15+PM.png" width="510" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/place/Union+Pacific+Railroad+Co/@44.9347264,-93.0781032,198m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x87f7d53bc667bd79:0x7175b04ca0f03e5c!2s399+Wabasha+St+S,+St+Paul,+MN+55107!3b1!8m2!3d44.9338272!4d-93.0841335!3m4!1s0x87f7d5161b3e5a03:0xb82c79f63f83230b!8m2!3d44.9347369!4d-93.0774446">building just northwest of the old rail yard</a> is actually still a Union Pacific building as of Feb. 2021. <br /><p></p><p>I have ordered a 1969 paper street map off of eBay. We can examine it when it arrives and perhaps see in better detail what this intersection looked like, and which of our two intersection candidates is the actual 56 & Wabasha. (Anyone with any photographs of the intersections from the 1963-74 time period, please share them!) </p><p>And where do the railroad tracks so close to the intersection of MN Hwy 56 and Wabasha St. go? Again, we turn to our American railroad history expert:</p><p><span face="system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif" style="font-size: 15px;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">That track is part of the "Spine Line" that runs from the Union Pacific yards in Saint Paul to the Armstrong-Armourdale Yard in Kansas City, Kansas.</span></span></blockquote><p></p><p>This strengthens the interpretation that the narrator is choosing this spot specifically because it facilitates the travel to Kansas mentioned in the next line of the song ("Honey we could be in Kansas / By the time the snow begins to thaw").</p><p>Here is a <a href="https://www.dot.state.mn.us/ofrw/maps/MetroRailMap.pdf">map of freight rail lines in the Twin Cities</a>. You can see the blue Union Pacific lines (in blue) going through the St. Paul neighborhood we're focusing on:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYewq-QiPfJBgoRmmz_XcnlLk2IhzFTxMQMOxBWJFA9ipqaIn1b2Vs85CNcIB9GtfjkGZkA_xdVUxmx7mMBTB2KlBFmH3q5AE3f5nKYEjZQ0JtY-GWbCKmvtBKabLWPjpkB02/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="615" data-original-width="880" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjYewq-QiPfJBgoRmmz_XcnlLk2IhzFTxMQMOxBWJFA9ipqaIn1b2Vs85CNcIB9GtfjkGZkA_xdVUxmx7mMBTB2KlBFmH3q5AE3f5nKYEjZQ0JtY-GWbCKmvtBKabLWPjpkB02/w590-h412/Screen+Shot+2021-02-24+at+10.58.39+AM.png" width="590" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>Here's a <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/464996730248197294/">larger map</a>, showing the Union Pacific "Spine Line" connecting to Kansas City:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_34O0M4zdOOGR0nnbrOkYBPnVXPUty0m1H8zC2t2DBN-t8g3FF6nahS3XIA0R3xnfogrEf3X39OUlvhGSbiRO5CoDdyu2pXv4P_RuARvKZMa0PCqzYy2-E8hnAGoeJYZCch4I/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="491" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_34O0M4zdOOGR0nnbrOkYBPnVXPUty0m1H8zC2t2DBN-t8g3FF6nahS3XIA0R3xnfogrEf3X39OUlvhGSbiRO5CoDdyu2pXv4P_RuARvKZMa0PCqzYy2-E8hnAGoeJYZCch4I/w579-h506/Screen+Shot+2021-02-24+at+11.04.56+AM.png" width="579" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Note that at the time of the recording of <i>Blood on the Tracks</i>, these tracks were owned by the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad. They were sold to the Union Pacific Railroad in 1980. </div><h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unsung verse in the published lyrics:</h3><div>The <a href="https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/meet-me-morning/">lyrics on the official site contain an unsung verse</a>, which contains a reference to a "station". It's not clear what kind of station, but it does suggest a possible link to railroad themes:</div><div><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: black; font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;"></span></span><blockquote><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;">The birds are flyin’ low babe, honey I feel so exposed</span><span style="font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;">
Well, the birds are flyin’ low babe, honey I feel so exposed</span><span style="font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;">
Well now, I ain’t got any matches</span><span style="font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;">
And the station doors are closed</span></span></span></blockquote></div><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">What about all the "official" sources that have the lyrics listed as "56th and Wabasha"?</h2><p>I contend that they are in error, and that the usual convention of listing street intersections in this way has just caused people to assume that the "th" couldn't be heard. Probably there was an initial transcription error which was later repeated and has since spread to all sources (I have two official books of Dylan sheet music that both say "56th"). </p><p>Also, sources like the official Dylan site have some whoppers. Take a look at <a href="https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/if-you-see-her-say-hello/">"If You See Her, Say Hello" lyrics on the official site</a>:</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;">If you see her, say hello, she might be in Tangier</span><span style="font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;">
It’s the city ’cross the water, not too far from here</span></span></span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1d; font-family: "Clarendon FS Light"; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre-line;"></span>Obviously, this is far from the "She left here last early spring, is livin' there I hear" that we actually hear sung on <i>Blood on the Tracks</i>. If discrepancies this large can exist, certainly we can't expect them to capture a difference as subtle as "fifty-six" vs. "fifty-sixth". <p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Do we have any evidence that Bob Dylan knew about Highway 56, or this intersection?</h2><div>I don't have any direct evidence Dylan knew about this intersection. There are <a href="https://www.startribune.com/25-bob-dylan-landmarks-to-visit-in-minnesota/380314721/">numerous places in St. Paul</a> we know Dylan has been. In 1956 when he was a kid, Dylan and his friends <a href="http://www.bjorner.com/DSN00003%201960.htm#DSN00002">recorded some songs at Terlinde Music</a> shop, which was at 184 West 7th St., St. Paul MN, according to one of the <a href="https://somelocalloser.blogspot.com/2021/01/terlinde-music-co.html">labels on a record made there</a> at about the same time. Google Maps says this is a 6 minute drive/27 minute walk from Wabasha & Cesar Chavez. </div><div><br /></div><div>It is likely that Bob Dylan was familiar with Highway 56, as at the time <a href="https://streets.mn/2018/06/01/a-history-of-minnesotas-highways-part-four/">it ran through Dinkytown near the University of Minnesota</a>, where he was known to hang out and perform in 1959-1960. (It ran along University, one block away from the 4th Street often associated with "Positively 4th Street".) According to <a href="https://www.minneapolis.org/bob-dylans-roots-in-minneapolis/">this</a>, Dylan actually lived at a frat house at 915 University Ave/Hwy 56 when he started at the U of M. Here's a 1957 map showing Hwy 56 going past the University of Minnesota and through Dinkytown:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWciyL6X2wIoyTWYEP2hKlTcqo8aZOzGpoTGnelAF9yXNJNOcSfcHDcv9qLcHhftSfHu4_LmIFV9FOpUStwueUGZhX_Kf4VZadtnQ-8-MjJcJ3JwQ7Go3gfL2mOAfslRAVYaRq/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWciyL6X2wIoyTWYEP2hKlTcqo8aZOzGpoTGnelAF9yXNJNOcSfcHDcv9qLcHhftSfHu4_LmIFV9FOpUStwueUGZhX_Kf4VZadtnQ-8-MjJcJ3JwQ7Go3gfL2mOAfslRAVYaRq/w597-h448/154840430_462940081564408_7242082440573748801_n.jpg" width="597" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">More significantly, on July 22, 1974, before "Meet Me in the Morning" was recorded or written, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/the-reunion-of-crosby-stills-nash-young-the-ego-meets-the-dove-179262/">Bob Dylan was at the St. Paul Civic Center at a Crosby, Stills, & Nash concert</a>. He was a<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rsiBNqqwq_kC&pg=PA454&lpg=PA454&dq=St.+Paul+Hilton+dylan+crosby&source=bl&ots=iqKqMrkILw&sig=ACfU3U07Uz8B76LvxuOl6dXgkKe4Dw72Zg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4tcTMmMXvAhWjVN8KHewuA3c4ChDoATAFegQIExAD#v=onepage&q=St.%20Paul%20Hilton%20dylan%20crosby&f=false">lso at the St. Paul Hilton</a> across Wabasha Street. Both these sites are within a couple blocks of Wabasha St. and near the candidate intersections for 56 & Wabasha. Dylan would have had to cross Wabasha Street going from the hotel to the concert and back. So it is very likely that Wabasha Street could have been fresh in his memory when recording "Meet Me in the Morning" in New York in September 1974. By this time, Highway 56 probably didn't come into downtown St. Paul, but if he took a stroll a few blocks across the river he might have seen it. </div></div><div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">So why did nobody figure this out before?</h2><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li> The strength of the "ordinal + street name" shorthand convention for naming intersections is powerful, and makes the erroneous "fifty-sixth" hearing very compelling. </li><li>In the released version on <i>Blood on the Track</i>s, the raucous instrumentation makes it hard to hear the "fifty-six", and listeners easily fill in the "missing" "-th" sound due to reason #1, above. </li><li>The fact that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_State_Highway_56#History">Minnesota Highway 56 was re-routed in 1974</a>, right before <i>Blood on the Tracks</i> was released, effectively erased this intersection before listeners had the opportunity to come to this "Highway 56" interpretation of the lyric. </li><li>Minnesota Highway 56 was already fairly obscure at the time of the recording of this song. According to my colleague Brendan Dunn, it was likely that traffic on 56 decreased once the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafayette_Bridge">Lafayette Bridge opened to traffic in 1968</a>. Indeed, I wonder if Highway 56 was obscure enough by 1974 that it could be considered one of the "back roads heading south" mentioned in "Idiot Wind". </li><li>An alternate take with a clearer vocal was not released until 2012, as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_Me_in_the_Morning">the B-Side of Duquesne Whistle</a>. By this time, the Highway 56 and Wabasha intersection was decades in the past, and the "56th" reading was firmly entrenched. The additional takes with clearer vocals on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bootleg_Series_Vol._14:_More_Blood,_More_Tracks"><i>More Blood, More Tracks</i> weren't widely available until November 2018</a>.</li><li>I suspect that "Meet Me in the Morning"'s relative lyrical simplicity and lack of identifiable biographical detail has caused most Dylan sleuths to focus their energies elsewhere.</li><li>Uncovering the "fifty-six" hearing of the lyric requires both a great deal of Dylan enthusiasm and minute knowledge of the layout and history of minor St. Paul roads and their nomenclature. (That being said, I'm surprised no Dylan fan had looked at the 1974 map shown above that shows Wabasha and Hwy 56 plainly intersecting.)</li></ol><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Implications for Interpretation</h2><p>As to the implications this reading has for interpretations of the song, that will be addressed in a subsequent post, (or added here later). </p><h1 style="text-align: left;">Additional Links</h1><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The discussion of <a href="https://expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=100625">this topic on the Expecting Rain Dylan forum</a></li><ul><li>A shorter thread on <a href="https://expectingrain.com/discussions/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=39021&start=50#p1969059">the topic devoted to this particular track</a></li></ul><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_Me_in_the_Morning">Wikipedia article for Meet Me in the Morning</a> (which as of Feb 22 2021 contains my edit with a very brief version the "Highway 56" theory.)</li><li>A <a href="https://streets.mn/2018/06/01/a-history-of-minnesotas-highways-part-four/">history of Minnesota highways</a> that shows Highway 56 running through the neighborhood we're examining.</li><li>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabasha_Street_Caves">Wabasha Street Caves</a>, a few blocks northwest of our intersection (or possibly only one block, if it turns out the South Wabasha & Cesar Chavez is the one we want). This was a cave network used by gangsters, and was also a disco in the 1970's. It is possible Dylan had these caves in mind, with their criminal connotations, when he put the meeting spot here. The actual <a href="http://www.wabashastreetcaves.com/">official Wabasha Street Caves site is so retro</a>. Serious 1994-made-with-Microsoft-Notepad vibes here. </li><li>A <a href="https://www.startribune.com/25-bob-dylan-landmarks-to-visit-in-minnesota/380314721/">list of Minnesota Dylan landmarks</a>. Neither of the St. Paul locations are particularly close to 56 & Wabasha. </li><li>An <a href="https://bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/8892">essay on Meet Me in the Morning</a>, to which I responded in the comments with this theory. </li><li>Speculation about <a href="https://expectingrain.com/dok/atlas/56thandwabasha.html">56th & Wabasha on the Dylan Atlas</a>. No way to respond with this theory.</li><li>A <a href="http://echoesinthewind.net/?p=4726">blog post about this topic</a>. Back in 2013, a commenter mentioned the existence of Minnesota Highway 56, but doesn't go on to explore the implications for the song. I've submitted a comment linking to this post. </li><li>An <a href="http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=570580">old Google Answers session</a> on this topic. I don't see any mechanism for adding an update. </li><li>The (wrong, according to this theory) <a href="https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/meet-me-morning/">lyrics on BobDylan.com</a>.</li><li>I am trying to expand my search on this topic to the world of formal Dylan scholarship. Fortunately, "Wabasha" is a wonderfully distinct search term. Here's a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=10&q=Dylan+Wabasha&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5">Google Scholar search for "Dylan Wabasha"</a>. So far I haven't been "scooped" by anyone. And a lot of people might have to revise their work in the light of this new interpretation. </li><li>A <a href="https://www.historicsaintpaul.org/sites/default/files/neighborhood_guides/westside.pdf">brochure describing the neighborhood</a> (see section #3 "Where Wabasha Turns").</li><li>A long thread of <a href="http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/133625.aspx">train enthusiasts arguing about who had the best freight line from St. Paul to Kansas City.</a> </li><li>A <a href="https://hoboshoestring.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/riding-with-new-york-slim-the-hobo-king-of-1998/">train hopping story that includes going from Kansas City to St. Paul</a>.</li><li>A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXpRQqaFkMA">video of a model railroad journey from St. Paul to Kansas City</a>. </li><li>Pictures:</li><ul><li><a href="http://collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=11453923&return=q%3D399%2520south%2520wabasha%2520street">Looking at downtown St. Paul from South Wabasha</a></li><li><a href="https://rchs.pastperfectonline.com/photo/6BDC8A96-3B6C-410B-9896-710095637431">1950 South Wabasha looking north</a></li><li>People loved the prospect of <a href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fb2%2F90%2Fd7%2Fb290d7b6e5f6ab16621688bd037e870c.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.cl%2Fpin%2F281686151667518672%2F&tbnid=yLwtBBFNgkR3sM&vet=12ahUKEwjhws_m-oHvAhUX66wKHSbbC0wQMygCegUIARCsAQ..i&docid=Tyx0o7rNGsKagM&w=600&h=368&itg=1&q=South%20Wabasha%20St%20St.%20Paul%20MN&ved=2ahUKEwjhws_m-oHvAhUX66wKHSbbC0wQMygCegUIARCsAQ">looking at downtown St. Paul from South Wabasha street</a>.</li><li><a href="https://rchs.pastperfectonline.com/photo/151F3A91-C385-4FD6-8A6C-105873402833">1952 South Wabasha flooded</a></li><li><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/MN-56.svg">Nice MN Hwy 56 graphic</a></li><li><a href="https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/464-466-Wabasha-St-S-Saint-Paul-MN/5862494/">464-466 South Wabasha real estate listing</a></li></ul></ul><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><p><br /></p><p></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com2Wabasha St & Cesar Chavez St, St Paul, MN 55107, USA44.933668999999988 -93.08423944.933289240938421 -93.084775441802975 44.934048759061554 -93.083702558197018tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-82642106593911105452020-02-25T10:22:00.001+03:302020-02-25T18:40:15.423+03:30Flash lit: Battle Scars<div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">His skin was covered in old scars and bright tattoos, and he reclined languidly on the cushions as I cleaned him up. The history of his skin made no sense: The colors and lines of the tattoos were vivid and sharp, like they'd been done last week. But the scars that defaced them looked decades old: cruel and terrible, but faded with time. I couldn't figure out how and old scar could deface a new tattoo. In the warm lamplight, he looked like the vandalized portrait a saint. Vandalized first by a brilliant graffiti artist who liked trolls and turtles and runes and fire. And then again by some sick flayer with the dark art of hurtling wounds deep into your past. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">If the scars still pained him, he showed no sign of it. Spent and drained, he looked beautiful through my bloodcrush eyes. No doubt when his blood wore off he'd be all dopey grins and stooped posture and middle age again. No doubt he <i>still</i> was all that; I just didn't have to notice it for a while, not with his blood so fresh inside me. I was regretting making him pay a quarter of my price in gold. The coins, still sitting on the sill in front of the two Hekatomb party masks, looked so paltry and dull. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">The Roostnook loft was quiet in the afterglow of our session. It was my favorite room in the Velvet Den, a leftover piece of fortress from the Margavian Colonial castle that once stood here. The old crossbow slit looked out over what is now the music lounge. The entire octagonal floor was a mattress, with only one hole in the center where a ladder provided access. It was late, and the raucous Hekatomb party songs had given way to solo ballads and quiet lute instrumentals. The shiny, button-tufted leather ceiling was low enough that you couldn't stand upright. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">He gently brushed my hair aside to get a better view of my face as I finished licking him clean. He was grinning the same grin as when he first saw me. His long hair looked like it had been black a decade ago. I remember he called himself <i>Kyle</i>, and he had said it as if I might recognize who he was. But I didn't. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">"You look so beautiful doing that," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">I suppose the same lamplight bathing him was working on me as well. The other girls tell me I'm beautiful. Even the Mistress has said it. And I remember myself that way. But I haven't seen a mirror in years, and I hope I never do again. I can't explain the terror of that emptiness where my reflection should be. Please don't ask me to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">"I'll have to take your word for it," I said, giving him a wink. The man clearly knew his way around a vampire, so I'm sure he knew that I couldn't check for myself. Simple compliments like "You look beautiful" mean so much more now. Of all the changes since my nightbirth, this has been the hardest to get used to. I started putting my underthings back on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">"You don't have to," he said. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">"Are you going to give me more of that blood?" I asked. I wasn't going to spend time with him for free, bloodcrush or no. This is a business, after all, and the Mistress looks poorly on those who let such things affect their judgment. I was pretty sure his answer would be no. I can tell when the ardor has gone out of a man. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">"No," he said, "I meant you don't have to take my word for how beautiful you are. I could show you."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">[I sent this from my iPhone, so please excuse any excessive brevity or typographical errors.]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #f3f3f3;">--Zachary Drake</span></div>
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Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-12757844929802924752019-10-02T06:24:00.000+03:302019-10-02T06:24:47.493+03:30After Dinner
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">BOOM BOOM BOOM</i>.
The knock was coming from the floor, from under one of the worn Cathyssian
carpets Kyle used to try to give his Spiretonian loft some kind of coziness. Sometimes the goblin drugmongers downstairs pounded on the ceiling if he
was making too much noise, but Kyle had been having a quiet evening too
himself. He was sorting his latest Beastclash card acquisitions and stuffing
his face with food so he’d have enough blood to feed his newly adopted vampire
daughter, who’d be waking up in an hour or so. He couldn’t think of anything
he’d done to annoy them. They’d been friendly since the Loot division several
days ago. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">BOOM BOOM BOOM</i>. The
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didn’t they come to the door? Kyle got up and walked over to the spot on the
carpet where the knock was coming from. There was a slight bump, as if there
was something under the rug. Could that somehow be what was annoying them? Kyle
grew suspicious. There definitely shouldn’t be a weird lump under his carpet.
Had one of his magic students left something behind? Had the Inquisition
installed some kind of magical eavesdropping device in his loft, but botched
the job and left this lump under his carpet? Had Vile, his cat familiar killed
something and left it under there for him to find?<o:p></o:p></div>
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“You know that thing where if you terrorize a mouse, you can
get it to eat its own babies?” The aforementioned familiar sauntered
into the room, summoned, perhaps by Kyle’s thoughts. “It’s not true,” said the
cat, slipping its words directly into Kyle’s mind. “I spent all
afternoon terrorizing a mother mouse, but it wouldn’t eat its babies at all. I had to eat
the babies myself. They made a decent dinner. I left the mother mouse alive so
I can try again later.” The cat leapt onto a bookshelf and snuggled itself
between <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Artemesia: Divine Suzerain of
Margava</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Illustrated
Compendium of Couplings with Creatures Mythical and Fantastic</i>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“Torture victims? Mice are pests.” Vile began nonchalantly
licking his paws. Go ask the Bureau of Quarantine or the Ministry of Sanitation
what they think of mice. The City should pay me a bounty for my actions this
afternoon. And no, that bump under the carpet has nothing to do with me. I
could tell you what it is, but you could just as easily lift up the carpet see
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Kyle immediately stepped back. If his cat wanted him to lift
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<!--StartFragment--><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Underneath was a newly installed trapdoor. </span><!--EndFragment--></div>
<!--EndFragment--><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-38204849287494460872019-03-13T01:17:00.001+03:302019-03-13T01:17:26.601+03:30Troll bard<span class="UFICommentActorAndBody"><span><span><span data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><span class="UFICommentBody"><span>People try to cut me down (talkin' 'bout regeneration)</span><br /><span>Just because I'm green and brown (talkin' 'bout regeneration)</span><br /><span>I don't need no s-s-saving throw (talkin' 'bout regeneration)</span><br /><span>Hack my limbs and they regrow (talkin' 'bout regeneration)</span><br /><br /><span>This is regeneration </span><br /><span>This is regeneration, baby</span><br /><br /><span>Why don't you all r-run away (talkin' 'bout regeneration)</span><br /><span>I'm really very hard to s-s-slay (talkin' 'bout regeneration)</span><br /><span>Unless you've got di-s-s-sintegration (talkin' 'bout regeneration)</span><br /><span>I'll come back by re-g-g-generation (talkin' 'bout regeneration)</span></span></span></span></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-18290624687263113962017-01-10T00:29:00.001+03:302017-01-10T00:29:10.763+03:30Jeff Sessions and Special Needs Education My wife wrote <a href="https://medium.com/@sarahataylor/education-for-children-with-disabilities-and-the-next-attorney-general-82c7fa1a2cfe#.7ow2ylafn">an essay about our experience and how Jeff Sessions seems poorly suited</a> to look after the interests of special needs education:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Many people in the disability community are <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2016/11/29/would-special-education-rights-be-safe-with-jeff-sessions-as-u-s-attorney-general/#4a0f0bec5dd8" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2016/11/29/would-special-education-rights-be-safe-with-jeff-sessions-as-u-s-attorney-general/#4a0f0bec5dd8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">concerned</a>
that Sessions may fail to uphold the educational rights of children
with disabilities. In a 2000 speech to the U.S. Senate titled, <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.sessions.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2000/5/education-discipline-and-idea-" href="http://www.sessions.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2000/5/education-discipline-and-idea-" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Education Discipline and IDEA</em></a>,
Sessions argued that “special treatment for certain children…may be the
single most irritating problem for teachers throughout America today.”
He was referring to children with documented disabilities who meet the
strict <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,regs,300,D,300%252E306," href="http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,regs,300,D,300%252E306," rel="nofollow" target="_blank">eligibility criteria </a>for
receiving special education services. The underlying message in the
speech is that children with disabilities who exhibit behavioral
challenges should be disciplined or segregated from their peers in
general education. </blockquote>
<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-4836101552545551262016-11-30T12:04:00.000+03:302016-11-30T12:04:13.996+03:30Time to animate a dead horseWe're gettin' necromantic folks. The calamity of the probable election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency is prompting me to dust off my old political blog. Let's do what we can to save our nation from this unfolding disaster. <div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-18576046064270253152016-08-30T09:45:00.000+04:302016-08-30T09:45:05.520+04:30Just seeing if this thing is aliveI'm testing.<div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-38002419836210494602015-05-04T21:32:00.004+04:302015-05-04T21:32:49.324+04:30My Kerbal Space Program flag<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-KKDdTGVLrSeY37SYvT-FaQkaSJXanRMkPfWwHWjH4XJ1eD7uqKvFpURIY3TKKFnEZ2OJT0hSJph4ZvnpxeF-0Y_p_tSFDJ-M0xAgDd238BjhyphenhyphenYTKo9nG9FRyK-YClwa7ESen/s1600/Flag_ASI+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-KKDdTGVLrSeY37SYvT-FaQkaSJXanRMkPfWwHWjH4XJ1eD7uqKvFpURIY3TKKFnEZ2OJT0hSJph4ZvnpxeF-0Y_p_tSFDJ-M0xAgDd238BjhyphenhyphenYTKo9nG9FRyK-YClwa7ESen/s1600/Flag_ASI+copy.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
IN VACUUM, AD NIHILUM</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-71181115069729678152013-07-24T03:44:00.001+04:302013-07-24T03:44:17.399+04:30Federal Reserve ChairDear President Obama: Please appoint a Federal Reserve Chair who will take unemployment (i.e. the interest of workers) at least as seriously as inflation (i.e. the interest of banks with outstanding loans). The economy is still very crummy for a lot of people and the person in this position should have some sense of urgency about that. <div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-5512193117433475452013-05-18T00:38:00.006+04:302013-05-18T00:38:54.395+04:30I will be performing <i>Dust Storm</i> at <a href="http://www.theatre-esprit-asia.org/">Theatre Esprit Asia</a> in Denver on May 30th and June 1st.<div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-51398949245313121952013-05-18T00:36:00.000+04:302013-05-18T00:36:11.170+04:30PlayHaven is hiring!I'm half-posting this just because I'm afraid my blog will "expire" or something if I don't. But <a href="http://jobvite.com/m?3HofRfwV">PlayHaven is hiring</a>! I mainly post to Facebook now, so if you happen to be an Internal Monologue reader who isn't already my FB friend you should find me there. I like keeping this blog around because at some point I might wish to publish things to the world rather than just my FB community.<div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-82322273713178628642013-01-23T22:31:00.001+03:302013-01-23T22:31:17.305+03:30Finally, an Update to Storyteller Dice Roller!And this blog! Apple has accepted my update to <a href="http://zdrake.blogspot.com/2010/12/storyteller-dice-roller.html">Storyteller Dice Roller</a>, my little tabletop RPG utility app. Wow, the Blogger interface has changed a lot.<div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-2691138414522236902012-07-20T22:47:00.003+04:302012-07-20T22:51:59.399+04:30We're not supposed to talk about the guns<a href="http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-real-crime-is-talking-about-causes.html">Digby</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
So I understand from the twitter scolds that we are not supposed to talk about this mass murder except to share clinical details about what happened and express condolences to the victims. The shutting down any discussion of the social, cultural and political implications of yet another horrific act of deadly gun violence is becoming more and more successful after each event.</blockquote>
Amen. Let's stop pretending there's nothing we can do about this. I'd like to make gun control a politically respectable issue again. I think there should be a hell of a lot of red tape involved in owning a gun. I don't think the Second Amendment refers to individuals, but rather to a "well-regulated militia".<div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-81458533485238663952012-01-24T23:05:00.000+03:302012-01-24T23:06:27.724+03:30GREE International is hiring!<p class="p1">GREE International, is a mobile social gaming and platform company. We are trying to double in size in under 6 months. We have A LOT of money and 73 open positions. These include Programmers (Android, iOS, Javascript, Ruby on Rails, Unity3d), Build Engineers, Sales Engineers, QA Engineers, Network Engineers, Product Managers, System Administrators, 2D Artists, Web/Graphic Designers, UI/UX Designers, Marketers, Studio Directors, Copywriters, Lawyers, HR Generalists, Recruiters, Japanese Technical Translators, and people who do Customer and Community Management, Data Analysis, Business Operations (whatever that is), Corporate Development, Business Development, Business Intelligence, Public Relations, and management (Director and VP level) for most of those kinds of positions. </p> <p class="p2">Must be able to relocate to Bay Area. There is a giant sucking sound of people being inhaled into the company. Apply <a href="http://jobvite.com/m?3nAEefwz">here</a>. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-31151070495003524592011-09-02T22:08:00.002+04:302011-09-02T22:22:09.522+04:30Starz and Netflix in a spatI really hope Starz and Netflix work out <a href="http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/starz-walks-out-on-netflix.php">their differences</a> and come to an agreement. For their sake, more than mine. If people can't get their video legitimately, that will just bolster the illegal methods. Really, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_BitTorrent_clients">BitTorrent clients</a> are not that hard to use (or so I've heard), and the more people figure that out, the worse it will be for people who produce and distribute video content and hope to charge money for doing so. Have they learned nothing from the music industry?
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-21084368343898078662011-08-19T23:32:00.003+04:302011-08-19T23:47:49.707+04:30Yay! California joins the national popular vote for president movement<span style="font-style: italic;">Internal Monologue</span> has long been an advocate of <a href="http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/08/california-joins-national-popular-vote-movement">this</a>:
<br /><blockquote>A national movement aimed at sidelining the Electoral College in presidential elections got a big boost Monday when Gov. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/jerry-brown/">Jerry Brown</a> signed legislation adding California to the list of states supporting the drive. <p>Brown's signature makes California the ninth state to sign on to the effort, which would hand the electoral votes of all participating states to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes nationwide. Currently, California's 55 electoral votes go to the person who wins the most votes in the state.
<br /></p></blockquote>Note that this law only kicks in if states with a majority of the electoral college votes have a similar law.
<br />
<br />The Electoral College is a national embarrassment and needs to be sidelined. It is a vestige of anti-democratic forces that have no legitimate place in today's polity. This is a great way to get around the EC without amending the Constitution. The latter would be very difficult to do, because states that are over-represented would be very reluctant to relinquish their unfair share of power.
<br />
<br />The Electoral College is one of the political institutions that privileges rural, conservative interests over urban, progressive ones, because low-population states get proportionally more power in the EC than high power ones. If laws like this had been in effect in 2000, Al Gore would have defeated George Bush, regardless of how the small amount of contested votes in Florida were handled.
<br />
<br />I do hope other states join us. It's good to hear some political good news for once!
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-46372108530172235262011-08-16T02:13:00.001+04:302011-08-16T02:20:24.467+04:30You know patent law is screwed up......when<a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/e906bedc-c734-11e0-a9ef-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1V8WoRjTv"> Google pays $12.5 billion dollars for Motorola</a>, primarily to use its portfolio of patents in lawsuit wars.
<br />
<br />This is a lame-ass state of affairs and doesn't benefit anyone except lawyers and patent trolls.<div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-38733792336360328522011-08-14T08:39:00.002+04:302011-08-14T08:46:50.553+04:30Invest in childrenThe basic point of this TED talk is that at-risk children are woefully under-capitalized in our society. Early childhood intervention provides the public a fantastic rate of return that any venture capitalist would jump on immediately. This is exactly the sort of thing that will help our society be strong, and unfortunately it's exactly the sort of thing that gets cut, because the constituents lack political power.
<br />
<br /><iframe width="400" height="257" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/M02Z1vAuwBs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24687464.post-33571088065598384372011-07-26T22:30:00.002+04:302011-07-26T22:48:11.880+04:30Delightfully Morbid Statistics<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvC6sssWui2Uii8xby1PFh2JVnz1J0VTRjkZM6Vk0NWXIFN8Y39LpS19DJ-Ncz55YOAZU2K0nSMXDiq1NIr1PCskmwQ7012_edZ4l9BPb5oHhEQ2ltYCyOiIIZF0SSBi4LBTE/s1600/vsl_chart-1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 276px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgvC6sssWui2Uii8xby1PFh2JVnz1J0VTRjkZM6Vk0NWXIFN8Y39LpS19DJ-Ncz55YOAZU2K0nSMXDiq1NIr1PCskmwQ7012_edZ4l9BPb5oHhEQ2ltYCyOiIIZF0SSBi4LBTE/s400/vsl_chart-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633722505822937554" border="0" /></a>Here's a chart that shows what dollar value various government agencies assign to a human life when doing their cost-benefit analyses. Via <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/07/26/279320/the-price-of-life-2/">Yglesias</a>.<br /><br />Some commenters reacted negatively to the very idea of cost-benefit analysis and human life. I guess my reaction to that is: "Grow up." Yes, it seems heartless and cold-blooded to place a dollar value on human life. But any safety decision we make (requiring seat belts, helmet laws, disease prevention, etc.) implicitly places a dollar value on human life. Indeed, many government policy decisions (health care, war, whether it is more important to fight unemployment or inflation) make an implicit statement about the value of human life. I think making those implicit statements explicit can help us make more just decisions.<div class="blogger-post-footer">|
Thank your for reading the <i>Internal Monologue</i> feed.</div>Zachary Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08151836571134522060noreply@blogger.com0