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THE QUOTE
“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” — Hannah Arendt
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OUTDOOR LOVIN’
The IDS this morning runs a story about the Starlite Drive-In, the first outdoor movie theater in the state.
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Built in 1955, it still stands at 7630 South Old State Road 37. The Starlite opened for the 2012 season this past weekend, drawing about 500 cars for a double bill of “The Hunger Games” and “Mission Impossible 4.”
The Loved One and I plan to get out to the Starlite sometime this summer so we can make out in the car.
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PISTOL LOVIN’
I’m trying not to jump on the Trayvon Martin bandwagon at this moment because, as a very, very prominent attorney in these parts reminded me the other day, we don’t know many of the facts yet.
Trayvon Martin And George Zimmerman
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Highly emotionally charged incidents like this one draw the ranters and the ravers out of the deep woods. Like that despicable New Orleans cop who tweeted, “Act like a Thug Die like one!”
Never mind the borderline illiteracy of the man’s wireless ejaculation, this officer of the law is saying if you walk around wearing what he considers to be the uniform of gangsters, you ought to have your life taken.
The cop has been suspended without pay. If I’m the chief of police, I fire his emotionally unqualified ass forthwith.
Anyway, the shooter claims he and Martin had a scuffle. Let’s assume that’s true. Should we be able to pump lead into people whenever we find ourselves in a fight? Especially when we’ve been trailing them in the dark?
See, these are the chickens that come home to roost when you’re a nation in love with guns.
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FRANKFURT LOVIN’
The German city of Frankfurt has a new mayor. Peter Feldmann, a Social Democrat, takes over the fifth largest city in Germany on July 1st.
Feldmann beat the Christian Democrat candidate with 57 percent of the vote.
Man.
Feldmann
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It’s ironic. I’d just watched the movie “Downfall” (originally “Der Untergang“) the other day. It’s a German production with English subtitles. You can get it on Netflix.
The movie recounts the last 12 days of the Nazi regime and is set primarily in Hitler’s underground bunker. It’s as powerful a piece as you’re likely to see. Much of the story is based on the recollections of Hitler’s stenographer, Traudl Junge.
The actual Junge opens the film by saying, essentially, How should I have known what those guys were doing? I was just a kid.
Junge
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The movie’s coda carries a different tune. I won’t spoil it for you by telegraphing it here.
Anyway, Hitler’s surviving boys always said Yeah, we screwed up but at least we did something about those pesky Jews.
In the movie, Hitler doesn’t allow the possibility that he screwed up but he seems most proud of the fact that he stood tall against the Jews.
Bruno Ganz As Adolf Hitler
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A few people who were forced onto cattle cars and shipped off to concentration camps are still alive to this day. Most of them wore the mandated Star of David.
It’s been only 75 years since the end of the Holocaust. And, yeah, anti-Semitism now and again makes a reappearance in Europe.
But Frankfurt has a Jewish mayor.
I thought you might appreciate some good news.
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MIES LOVIN’
Didja catch today’s Google Doodle?
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March 27th is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe‘s birthday so Google put up a stylized image of one of the architect’s most notable designs. It’s Crown Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology‘s campus on the South Side of Chicago.
Crown Hall
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Mies, as he’s known familiarly, was perhaps the key figure in 20th Century world architecture. The simplicity of his work was stunning. His famed aphorism, “Less is More,” was the imprimatur for a generation of architects who filled the world’s big cities with box-like, prismatic skyscrapers.
Mies’s 860-880 North Lake Shore Drive Apartments (1951)
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Whereas Mies’s boxes were elegant and visually arresting, the slew of copycats who followed him turned his minimalism into a stultifying conformity.
Michael Wolf’s Photo, “tc 81”
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See? Jumping on a bandwagon rarely turns out well.
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LOVIN’ YOU
Here’s another reason I love doing this blog. Minnie Riperton‘s song “Lovin’ You” seemed a perfect wrap up for the series of headlines above. So, in the course of researching Riperton, I discovered Maya Rudolph, ex of Saturday Night Live, is her daughter.
That might be common knowledge but now I know.
Cool, huh? Now, an admission — this song really gets on my nerves.
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Imagine “Lovin’ You” as June and Ward Cleaver’s wedding song.
Who knows why I think of these things…
There’s also a documentary about Traudl called “Hitler’s Secretary,” which goes into more depth and is worth watching. It’s not a simple story, and she didn’t have to come forward with it.
Will someday share my own “Jews in Frankfurt” story from when I was there in 2000. I was surprised to meet one.
How does Minnie Ripperton fit in here? I mean, Arendt, Zimmerman, Feldmann, Junge, Hitler/Ganz, Mies — it’s all German down to her. You’re right, though. Great, great song, though it gets on my nerves.