In my post on the Left Forum, I forgot to mention the conversations I had with Marxmailers I ran into.
I had a beer with Jon Flanders on Saturday evening and caught up with what he's been up to since retirement. He is a few years younger than me and is enjoying life after decades of repairing diesel locomotives for Amatrak. I first met Jon in 1971 when he had decided to join the YSA after reading Karl Marx. Before that he used to walk around the U. of Vermont campus wearing a cape. I am not exactly sure why but I did things at Bard a lot stranger. Like me, Jon has kept very busy after retiring. In his case, that meant working for the reform slate in the Machinists union. For me, it means doubling up on my movie reviews. I also ran into David Walters. We didn't discuss the Lawrence-Wishart business but how to bring my blood pressure down. I first met David in 1969 or so when he had joined the YSA out of nursery school. He was a very advanced thinker. Finally, last and by no stretch of the imagination last, I chatted with Michael Perelman who is even older than me. At 74, Michael plays basketball with guys in their 20s. His blood pressure is about 90. He told me that he plans to continue teaching at Chico until he dies, and maybe even afterwards. While I did my best to dominate the conversation with Michael, he did get in a few words edgewise. Of particular interest was his explaining where the term robber barons comes from, prompted by my discussion of the film based on "Age of Uprisings: the Michael Kohlhaas Story". In my review I noted: "It was Kohlhaas’s misfortune to have trusted a baron with the proper care of two black horses that he had surrendered as collateral in order to pass through his domain en route to his estate, where he raises horses for a living." Michael explained that this is where the term robber baron comes from. Sure enough, he is right. From wikipedia: The term robber baron derives from the medieval German lords who charged nominally illegal tolls (tolls unauthorized by the Holy Roman Emperor) on the primitive roads crossing their lands[4] or the larger tolls on ships traversing the Rhine[4]—all such actions without adding anything of value,[4] (see robber baron) but instead lining one's pockets to the detriment (added costs) of the common good. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
