All Is Not Madness

No general comment (other than to note that some of it is, well, stupid) on Casey Chalk's piece, "Public School Sex-Ed’s Descent Into Madness," at The American Conservative. But I did find one of Chalk's complaints -- that a sex-ed curriculum "excis[es] clergy from a list of 'trusted adults,' interesting. My comment (awaiting moderation at TAC):

"excising clergy from a list of 'trusted adults.'"

That seems fair -- although, for the same reason, other authority figures (teachers, coaches, cops, etc.) should likewise be excised.

Authority attracts people who abuse authority.

That's not to say that all religious leaders, or even most religious leaders, abuse their authority. But someone with a desire to abuse the vulnerable is more likely to seek out a position from which he or she can do so.

Resolved, that a congregation’s priest, pastor, etc., is probably more rather than less likely to engage in sexual abuse than a random member of the congregation.

Oh, For Crying Out Loud

A century ago, give or take, it took allegations of rape and rumors that the rape involved a champagne bottle to destroy a big actor's career or knock a successful show off the screen (big screen back then, smaller as time went on).

Now it takes a few hours of outrage over a Twitter rant.

Nope, didn't read the tweet or tweets.

Nope, haven't watched the Roseanne reboot.

Nope, don't need to do either of those things to say this:

1. Roseanne Barr has built an entire career on wandering back and forth across the thin line that separates "merely very abrasive" from "seemingly batshit insane." I see no reason to assume that whatever she tweeted unintentionally violated whatever presumed standard it was held to. Intentionally violating presumed standards is part of her job description as a comedian, and so far as I can tell she stays on the job pretty much 24/7.
2. ABC knew (1) damn well when it picked up the reboot of her eponymous show. Why buy the ticket if you aren't willing to take the ride?

A bunch of people -- cast, crew, etc. -- just lost their jobs. Not because Roseanne Barr is offensive, but because ABC's execs are a bunch of cowards.

Story of My Life: Cheap Guitars

I am not a talented guitarist. Enthusiastic (when I have time to play), but not good.

I'm also a cheapskate, which means that with the single exception of the Joe Pass Emperor II I inherited from my dad (which I only take out rarely and reverently), I play cheap guitars. An old Epiphone dreadnought ($150 close to 20 years ago, and it came with gig bag, etc.), three Rogues (an acoustic dreadnought, an acoustic/electric dreadnought, and a lap steel) that came to less than $200 combined brand new, an Epiphone Les Paul ($95 on sale), a Walmart "First Act" strat clone ($10 with amp at a yard sale) ...

... and my current favorite, a student-sized First Act acoustic that I picked up for $2 at another yard sale. One of the tuning keys was completely shot, but that doesn't matter because I'm running it with only three strings (tuned to G-D-G) and using an old 3/4" socket as a slide while I run through some video lessons from online and await the arrival of my newest acquisition, a $35 mass-production take on a cigar box guitar (not an affiliate link):

I'm don't recall when I first noticed cigar box guitars, but they've appealed to me ever since for two initial reasons:

1. They're cheap and you can build them yourself (I will likely build one at some point, but not from scratch -- CB Gitty offers parts and kits).
2. Three strings in an open tuning is a LOT easier to make noise that's identifiable as music with than six strings in standard tuning.

Then there's my life-long blues conundrum. Since I was a teenager, I've listened to e.g. Robert Johnson and wondered how the hell those old blues guys managed to sound like they were playing two guitars with about five hands. I just assumed they were virtuosi. And they were.

But they were also playing open tunings, keeping the rhythm on all the strings except one and playing lead on that remaining string. In fact, many of them had started out as children on single-string "diddley bows" (Ellas McDaniel renamed himself after that instrument) and then just transposed what they did with those onto single strings of multi-string instruments in open tunings.

Cool: I'm certainly no Blind Willie Johnson and never will be, but I'm starting to be able to play something that's identifiably slide blues guitar instead of just sour mush by cutting the number of strings I have to keep track of in half and using a stubby slide to noodle with the blues scale on the high string while keeping rhythm on the other two.

Cooler: An acoustic/electric guitar, with a slide and play-along CD, for $35 new.