"Trigger Warning" for anyone wanting to read "Pappyland"

[IamMatt]

My wife gave me "Pappyland" by Wright Thompson (2020) for Father's Day.  It is part biography, part history about how Julian Van Winkle III turned around the 'complicated' legacy of his father.  It is a very personal story, and the author interweaves his own relationship with his family into the book.  I was enjoying it immensely; kinda wanted to invite the author for a beer or a whiskey.

 

Unfortunately, toward the end, he twice gratuitously interjects politics into the story.  The political statements add absolutely nothing to the story and are frankly a bit jarring.  If you disagree with his politics, you will find them offensive and if you agree with his politics you will find them offputting and out of place in the story.  It was kind of like enjoying your daughter's wedding when suddenly one of the guests grabs the microphone and announces she is pregnant and her boyfriend rushes up and proposes to her.  Even if you like the couple, this is not the time or place.

 

I was not emotionally damaged, they just kinda ruined the book for me.  Honestly, the statements are so irrelevant to the story I wish my wife would have redacted them with a black marker.  It is really two sentences on page 217 and one sentence on page 230.  Send me you copy before you read it and I will mark them over for you lol.

 

I will not be more specific here because this is not a political post. 

[Old Hippie]

Read it a while back, and do not remember the political message but will go back and revisit. I think the book was very well written but feel like he was emotionally attached to the family, the history, the lore and the current over-hype. 

[IamMatt]

I don't think there has been more than one addition, so I expect you will find what I am referring to on the pages references.

 

BTW, I guess I'm an old hippie, too,  Grew up in Berkeley in the 60s; started a club at my junior high to do light shows (remember those?) at the dances; had hair (back when I had hair) to the middle of my back; got thrown out of the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco by Bill Graham personally when I was 13; the saga goes on and on...

[steven s]

not triggering at all really. I thought those 3 sentences (out of an entire book) just added some context re the author's state of mind.

great read!

[dwg13013]

I miss the times when politics was only about elections. 

Otherwise it never was part of conversations. 

 

Maybe we will get there again, maybe.

Overall that wouldn't take anything from the book for me, because everybody has opinions, and a right to them. 

[G L Tirebiter]

4 hours ago, dwg13013 said:

I miss the times when politics was only about elections. 

Otherwise it never was part of conversations. 

 

Maybe we will get there again, maybe.

 

I know what you mean and I don't think we'll ever get there again.     

Friday, I was in my back yard, walking up from my garden,  and said 'good morning' to the fellow building out neighbors pool deck.   He said 'morning" and I asked him if he was working by himself.   Now this is a guy who I've never met before and he replies "Can't get any help.  That's what happens when the Democrats take over the country.'   OK,..... well.....anyway, if I see him today, I'll still offer him some tomatoes and peppers!!   

[BigRich]

21 hours ago, G L Tirebiter said:

I know what you mean and I don't think we'll ever get there again.     

Friday, I was in my back yard, walking up from my garden,  and said 'good morning' to the fellow building out neighbors pool deck.   He said 'morning" and I asked him if he was working by himself.   Now this is a guy who I've never met before and he replies "Can't get any help.  That's what happens when the Democrats take over the country.'   OK,..... well.....anyway, if I see him today, I'll still offer him some tomatoes and peppers!!   

 

I think that at some level, blaming others for the challenges in your life is a part of the human condition that we all work against.  But it seems like the "everything wrong in my life is the fault of XXX that I hate" has reached a new peak.  It's exhausting.  I kind of don't like talking to people anymore.  Except for you guys, my imaginary internet friends. 

[flahute]

16 hours ago, BigRich said:

I kind of don't like talking to people anymore.  Except for you guys, my imaginary internet friends. 

We got you Rich.

[Old Hippie]

On 8/18/2021 at 6:36 PM, IamMatt said:

I don't think there has been more than one addition, so I expect you will find what I am referring to on the pages references.

 

BTW, I guess I'm an old hippie, too,  Grew up in Berkeley in the 60s; started a club at my junior high to do light shows (remember those?) at the dances; had hair (back when I had hair) to the middle of my back; got thrown out of the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco by Bill Graham personally when I was 13; the saga goes on and on...

You definitely have a more legitimate claim to the Old Hippie moniker. 

One of the great things about being old dudes is that we grew up in the Era of Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll. That is a very real thing - and it was the best times of my life

[IamMatt]

32 minutes ago, Old Hippie said:

One of the great things about being old dudes is that we grew up in the Era of Sex, Drugs and Rock N Roll.

Now its Viagra, Lipitor, and the classic rock FM station lol!

[berto]

On 8/18/2021 at 3:36 PM, IamMatt said:

I don't think there has been more than one addition, so I expect you will find what I am referring to on the pages references.

 

BTW, I guess I'm an old hippie, too,  Grew up in Berkeley in the 60s; started a club at my junior high to do light shows (remember those?) at the dances; had hair (back when I had hair) to the middle of my back; got thrown out of the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco by Bill Graham personally when I was 13; the saga goes on and on...

My man.  Garfield?  Willard?  You're a generation older than me but probably went to school with my relatives.  The classic rock station is now playing songs from when I started college almost 30 years ago.

[GeeTen]

On 8/18/2021 at 6:36 PM, IamMatt said:

BTW, I guess I'm an old hippie, too,  Grew up in Berkeley in the 60s; started a club at my junior high to do light shows (remember those?) at the dances; had hair (back when I had hair) to the middle of my back; got thrown out of the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco by Bill Graham personally when I was 13; the saga goes on and on...

 

Young pups - I got "Early Admission" to Cal Berkeley and Stanford for the fall of 1966. But my Mom (a professor at Oregon State and the ORIGINAL "Tiger Mom") wouldn't let me go since she didn't want me to play football and instead, concentrate on my studies.  Couldn't go to Columbia or CalTech either (they had football teams - kinda'  ).  So that's how I ended up at MIT (no football team back then).  And the rest, as they say, is history . . . . . . . . . . boy, did I show her.   

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by GeeTen

[IamMatt]

2 hours ago, berto said:

My man.  Garfield?  Willard?  You're a generation older than me but probably went to school with my relatives.  The classic rock station is now playing songs from when I started college almost 30 years ago.

Garfield '66-'68, then West Campus, then BHS '72.  If your relatives were there then, I'd love to hear about it, DM me if you like.  I knew a couple of people from Willard.

[HoustonNit]

1 hour ago, GeeTen said:

 

Young pups - I got "Early Admission" to Cal Berkeley and Stanford for the fall of 1966. But my Mom (a professor at Oregon State and the ORIGINAL "Tiger Mom") wouldn't let me go since she didn't want me to play football and instead, concentrate on my studies.  Couldn't go to Columbia or CalTech either (they had football teams - kinda'  ).  So that's how I ended up at MIT (no football team back then).  And the rest, as they say, is history . . . . . . . . . . boy, did I show her.   

 

Haha I had a boss that was a wide receiver for MIT.  He’s probably about 10 years younger than you though.  

[IamMatt]

2 hours ago, berto said:

You're a generation older than me but probably went to school with my relatives. 

Any of them at Cal in the early 80s?  They probably remember "The Game" in 1982 when Cal beat Stanford with 4 seconds left and the Stanford band swarming the field.  I was just doing some work yesterday with they guy from Cal who recovered the squib kick and started the play that won the game.

[berto]

50 minutes ago, IamMatt said:

Any of them at Cal in the early 80s?  They probably remember "The Game" in 1982 when Cal beat Stanford with 4 seconds left and the Stanford band swarming the field.  I was just doing some work yesterday with they guy from Cal who recovered the squib kick and started the play that won the game.

I'm just old enough to remember that game.  I was 8.  Might have had an uncle at Cal then.

[BourbonGuy]

Read "But Always Fine Bourbon: Pappy Van Winkle and the Story of Old Fitzgerald" instead.