FOR THE BROTHAS: AN INTRODUCTION

It must have been about 20 years ago when I first began thinking about creating a "Cultural Salon" as a reaction to the mundane social circles In Washington D.C. The richness of intellectual and artistic interchange had died, college friends had moved, the internet had not yet become the phenomenon it now is... I romanticised about the Salons of the mid to late 1800's in Paris, London and Berlin and the cultural dynamo of the Harlem Rennaisance. I was fortunate enough to meet a gentleman, an artist who lived and traveled with James Baldwin... Jimmy he affectionately called him, and he spoke often of their small cottage in southern France and of the many Artists, Poets and Luminaries that dropped in to chat and relax. Well, the impressionists, cubists, modernists, etc. all hung out together famously in those days and shared their ideas with one another creating a creative greenhouse in a world that was rapidly changing. I longed to have lived in those times, to have met Cassat, Rodin, Ellington, Fitzgerald, Baker, Balwin, well I did finally meet Baldwin and others purely for the joy of intellection upon the arts. This was in the late 1980's and by the mid 2000's I happened to run into a friend of mine from Hampton University who had been living in New York since he graduated in the early 90s. Well, I was surprised to hear him comment that in all of the wonder that is New York he never met anyone who ever really had anything interesting to say about art, literature, architecture, science, fashion or anything... I was so surprised to hear this since it had also been my experience. Well here I am in 2011 attempting the Virtual Salon...

Sunday, January 22, 2017

ON THE GENTLEMANLY ART OF BEING PRESIDENTIAL

EMILY POST AUTHORITARIAN ON MODERN ETIQUETTE


PRESIDENTIAL HOME TRAINING: A BEHAVIORAL DEGENERATION FROM RESPECTABLE TO OUTLANDISH!




GOOD HOME TRAINING GOES A LONG WAY IN THIS WORLD. THE CONCEPT IS SIMPLE ENOUGH BUT WHEN THERE ARE MISSING PIECES OR JUST NOTHING AT ALL THINGS BEGIN TO GET ZANY.  ESPECIALLY IN THOSE CASES WHEN THE DEFICIENT PERSONALITY IS THRUST INTO WORLD-VIEW!  NOW I WONT CLAIM TO HAVE ANY FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE OF THIS OR ANY MANS UPBRINGING BUT I MUST INSIST  THAT A MAN’S BEHAVIOR SPEAKS FOR ITSELF!

I GUESS IT IS SAFE TO MAKE A BLIND ASSUMPTION THAT 100% OF AMERICANS EXPECT THEIR 45TH PRESIDENT TO…. WELL… ACT PRESIDENTIAL! THEY EXOECT HIM TO BE A POLISHED, GENTLEMAN, TO BE POLITE AND EXERCISE THE KIND OF SOCIAL RESTRAINT EXPECTED OF AND NECESSARY FOR A DIGNITARY IN HIS POSITION.

I BELIEVE THE PROPER WORD IS DIGNIFIED, YES WE EXPECT A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO BE DIGNIFIED. IN SPITE OF THE PREDICTABLE REALITY-TV GRADE GOSSIP SURROUNDING THE LIFE OF OUR 45TH PRESIDENT AND UNDOUBTEDLY BECAUSE OF IT THE PERSONAL LIFE OF TRUMP IS REALLY A HUGE SCRIPTED BORE. I MEAN, I SHOULDNT EVEN BOTHER WASTING A SINGLE PRECIOUS SECOND THINKING ABOUT HIM WERE HE NOT IN A POSITION TO CAUSE SUCH GREAT DESTRUCTION. BUT LIKE AN IMMATURE CHILD LEFT ALONE AT HOME WITH MATCHES HE MUST BE WATCHED AND MANAGED! SINCE DESCRETION AND TACT APPREAR TO NEVER HAVE BEEN CULTIVTED IN HIS CHILDHOOD OR ADULT LIFE AMERICA MUST NOW PARENT IT'S 45TH PRESIDENT AS A MEANS OF SURVIVAL!

FORWARD TO THE ILLUSTRATION OF A YOUNG BOY BEING APPROPRIATELY DISCIPLINED BY HIS FATHER WHICH I INCLUDED AS A MEANS OF ADDING BOTH A CONTEXT AND A DOSE OF LIGHT HUMOR TO AN OTHERWISE WORRISOME SUBJECT!  NOW WHEREAS I HAVE NEVER BEEN NOR SHALL I EVER BE AN ADVOCATE OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT I WILL CONFIDENTLY RECOMMEND THAT SOME GOOD OLD-FASHIONED PARENTING TECHNIQUES MIGHT HAVE (IN THIS CASE AT LEAST) MADE FOR A BETTER TYPE OF MAN! I DO NOT THINK IT IS OK FOR A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO FEEL AS IF HE MAY BE SELFISH AND RUDE WHEN HE IS ACTING AS THE VOICE OF ALL AMERICANS.

AS TRUMP HAS OFTEN REFERENCED RETURNING BACK TO OLD-TRUSTED AMERICAN VALUES HE HAS MANAGED TO FORGET THAT HE IS NOW THE MODEL FOR THIS BEHAVIOR? PERHAPS AMERICA NEEDS MORE CLARIFICATION TO DETERMINE WHETHER HE MEANT A RETURN TO GENTLEMANLY OR VULGARIAN STANDARDS. PERHAPS WE SHOULD PROVIDE HIM WITH A PRESIDENTIAL EDITION OF EMILY POST!

THERE IS A FINE-LINE BETWEEN GOOD PARENTING/DISCIPLINE AND ABUSIVENESS.  OBVIOUSLY ABUSIVENESS OR NEGLIGENCE ARE ALMOST EQUALLY UNDESIRABLE OUTCOMES. I'VE ALWAYS BELIEVED IN LEARNING THROUGH POSITIVE EXAMPLE. BUT AT THIS LATE STAGE OF THE GAME A SPANKING WOULD PROBABLY NOT DO ANY GOOD. THE QUESTION BEGS TO BE ASKED, “ARE WE DEALING WITH A BEHAVIORAL DYSFUNCTION IN THE WHITE HOUSE?”. ARE PRESIDENTS REQUIRED TO PASS BEHAVIORAL EXAMINATIONS? THERE APPEARS TO BE SOMETHING VERY WRONG HERE THE ONLY QUESTION WILL BE IF IT IS TOO LATE TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT… THE DEED HAS BEEN DONE!

SO WHATS THE SOLUTION AMERICA? A THERAPUTIC VIRTUAL OR A SOCIAL SPANKING? A THOROUGH BEHAVIORAL EXAMINATION AND THERAPY? GIFTING A PRESIDENTIAL EDITION OF EMILY POST? MAYBE A 21ST CENTURY STYLED CRASH COURSE WITH A MY FAIR LADY THEME? OR PERHAPS A FEW SOULFUL SESSIONS WITH GIGI’S WELL-GROOMED GRANDMOTHER WOULD DO THE TRICK TO BRING SOME CLASS AND DECENCY INTO THIS PRESIDENTIAL ACT. ADMITTEDLY I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THE SOLUTION MIGHT ULTIMATELY BE BUT I DO RECKON ONE IS NEEDED AND ON THE LIGHT SIDE… GOOD LUCK WITH THAT AMERICA!


FIN




WRITTEN BY: BIGDADDY BLUES
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