but they were young yet
there remained for them many
life’s uncut pages

Adapted from Jack London’s short story, Dutch Courage.

Back in the day, I worked at a publishing house.

They had an entire department devoted to creating the printing pages layout of a the books published by the publishing house.

Then, and maybe still, when a book is printed, the pages are not printed one at a time, like pages out of a copy machine and then bound together.

No Sir!

A book is printed out on sheets of paper, four feet wide and five feet long.

It seems to me that either 32 or 64 pages of a book were printed on one piece of paper.

Pages are printed on BOTH sides of this giant piece of paper.

A machine then folded and folded and folded this sheet of paper, origami style, so that when it was all over, what you had was a block of folded paper, with all the pages lined up in order.

Page 33 might be on the back of page 32, but when it was laid out on the paper, page 33 might be in the center of side 1, so page 32 had to be place in the correct corresponding place on side 2.

Layout was like a giant sudoku game.

A couple of things resulted from this process.

One was that sometimes, the page counted didn’t match up.

Did you ever wonder why you got a book and it had a couple of blank pages before the forward and after the end of the book?

And it is these blocks of 32 or 64 pages that make up the sections of pages that you can see in a book that has bound pages that have uncut edges.

Working in bookstores and libraries, I was taught that having an uncut edge was not a sign of sloppiness but instead the rough edged pages were a sign to those who knew, that the book had a sewn instead of a glued binding

But that was just the outer edge.

Of course, the inner edges of the book had to be cut, if for no other reason to remove the folded edges.

If those weren’t removed, the pages couldn’t be opened and the book couldn’t be read.

And there is the story of life’s uncut pages.

Some book collectors wanting a first edition, who also wanted it kept in mint condition could hardly be expected to want to read any book in question, the true collector just needed the book to complete their collection.

So the true collector bought first editions that were left UNCUT!

Early in their marriage, Young Eleanor perused the books in Franklin Roosevelt’s library and was dismayed to find so many books with uncut pages.

She had to tear open a couple pages just to see what the books were about.

“YOU DID WHAT?” asked Frank at lunch when she reported what she had done.

SO books with uncut pages at not uncommon.

Books with their stories wrapped up inside.

Mr. London, writing about two young men about to try and climb the famous Half Dome in Yosemite wrote this:

“What’s that for?” Gus asked, pointing to a leather-shielded flask which Hazard was securely fastening in his shirt pocket.

“Dutch courage, of course,” was the reply. “We’ll need all our nerve in this undertaking, and a little bit more, and,” he tapped the flask significantly, “here’s the little bit more.”

“Good idea,” Gus commented.

How they had ever come possessed of this erroneous idea, it would be hard to discover; but they were young yet, and there remained for them many uncut pages of life.

So many erroneous ideas.

But they were young yet, and there remained for them many uncut pages of life.

Pages that are waiting to be torn open.

Cut open.

Carefully.

Maybe not so carefully.

Only way to get at the story.

grown up in an age
permeated by noise of
24-hour news

Adapted from this passage:

You have grown up in an age permeated by the noise of a 24-hour news cycle, by needless political polarization, by devastating gun violence, by the isolating effects of “social” media. You have seen hard-won civil rights rolled back. You have come of age at a time of existential threat — to the planet, to democracy, to the arc of the moral universe itself — and none of it is your fault.

In the Guest Opinion Piece, Against Despair: An Open Letter to Graduates on May 15, 2023 written by Margaret Renkl.

Ms. Renkl is a contributing Opinion writer who covers flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South.

She, as is evident in the headline, writing to High School and College Graduates in the Spring of the year 2023.

All she says is true.

These graduates have … grown up in an age permeated …

by the noise of a 24-hour news cycle,

by needless political polarization,

by devastating gun violence,

by the isolating effects of “social” media.

You have seen hard-won civil rights rolled back.

You have come of age at a time of existential threat — to the planet, to democracy, to the arc of the moral universe itself …

… and none of it is their fault.

But, I have to ask, it is within their ability to realize … there was a time, there was a place when life WAS NOT permeated

by the noise of a 24-hour news cycle,

by needless political polarization,

by devastating gun violence,

by the isolating effects of “social” media.

My children never spend a minute imaging a world without a cell phone.

My grand children, digital natives as they are called, grew up in a world that I am fond of pointing out, never existed anywhere.

Never existed not even in the wildest dreams of worlds that Science fiction and non fiction writers ever imagined.

A world where we all carried some of the most power computers ever designed.

Computers that we carry so we can send pictures of ourselves in places that other people aren’t at.

Now they are a part of life.

They replaced what we now call land lines.

Are they missed?

Do these graduates miss these other things.

They are just as gone.

That they are gone is not the graduates fault.

Can it be their fault that they don’t know them well enough to miss them?

instagrammable
moments that did not make it
on to instagram

Any one who reads these essays will know that I often rant about the instagrammable moment.

The idea that proof of being somewhere is better than the being there itself.

For example, 80% of the people who visit the Louvre in Paris are there to see only the Mona Lisa and when they get their 60 seconds in front of the painting, they turn their back on Lisa del Giocondo so they can position their iPhone to take a photo that captures their self with the painting in the background.

Viola, the instagrammable moment.

These moments can be based on an event as well.

Their self at Times Square on New Years, at a big league ball game or taking a walk on a beach at lunchtime.

Something to show you are where you are and other people aren’t.

There hasn’t been a British Coronation in 70 plus years.

For many, it could be a once in a life time event.

An event, that if you were present at, would almost demand to memorilized with an instagrammable moment.

Yet …

As I watched the pageantry playout on my TV and men bowed and women curtsied, not once did I see a slender white box of an iPhone.

I did not see the extended arms of the Instagram Salute.

I did not see anyone turn their back, a breach of etiquette all its own, so that someone could capture that instagrammable moment.

I like pageantry and such.

I’ll watch Inaugurations.

I’ll watch the funerals of past Presidents.

On Christmas Eve, it has become a tradition started after setting out all the gifts and candy for Christmas Morning, that the wife and I watch the service from St. Peters.

Of late, all of these events are filled with the image of people making images.

As an aside, how a Secret Service agent makes the split second decision that someone is reaching out with an iPhone and not a weapon is beyond me.

Last Christmas it comes to mind that one person in St. Peters in the background behind the alter was making such a show to capture selfies that a Vatican Official had to tap her on the shoulder to please sit down.

But yesterday in Westminster Abbey, I didn’t see a one.

When I first noticed I was so pleased that the people in the Abbey were there for the sake of being there and not proving they HAD been there.

When I time to think about it, my thought was, HOW did the Brits accomplish this?

Did Charles have a note at the bottom of the invitation saying something like, “Please refrain from taking selfies. In respect to the moment, the use of hand held devices is prohibited.”

If the invitations did have such a line, would the Brits go along with it?

And you know, I think they would.

You can find lots of indications that Brits don’t like they Royalty but I think that while they say it, they don’t mean it.

I remember a clip of an interveiw of one time Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan by Dick Cavett.

Mr. Cavett was asking about the process of Royal Honors and Mr. Macmillan explained that when he was in charge he would contact people and say, “I have in mind to recommend you to the Queen for a Knighthood,”

Mr. Macmillan explained that way, the honor would be turned down before it was ever offered (it ever one was ever turned down – Even John Lennon took an MBE before, years later, he gave it back).

Mr. Cavett grasped the idea and summed it up saying, “So you wouldn’t be saying no to the Queen.”

Mr. Macmillan agreed, “Saying no to the Queen? It just isn’t done.”

sorry your Highness
organised properly for
next coronation

So said Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Effingham, to His Majesty King George III when the Earl apologized for all the mishaps at the coronation of the King, Tuesday, 22 September 1761.

The coronation was supposed to be managed by the Earl Marshal, Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk; however, being a Roman Catholic, he had to step back and dropped the planning into his cousin’s lap, Mr. Howard.

According to Wikipedia, When George III complained about the problems to the Earl, Effingham “ … admitted that there had been “some neglect”, but that he would make sure that the next coronation would be organised properly.

Wikipedia also reports that George was highly amused by the answer and made Effingham repeat it several times.”

The first time I heard this anecdote, the quote given was, more along the lines, Sorry Sir, We will get it right next time.

Oddly enough one of the problems was that a jewel fell off the crown which later had some people saying was a bad omen that predicted the American Revolution.

Watching the ceremonies today and I have to ask what aspects of history of kings and queens and family and such might go through your mind if you were in Charles shoes?

I point out that if look at the Crown that Charles wore when he left the Church there are four pearls that dangle down from the top of the crown over the purple cloth.

Those pearls are reported to be earrings that were worn by Elizabeth I.

When Elizbeth I was Queen, it was known that she always wore a ring that was special to her.

When she died, it was found out that the ring was a locket.

Inside the locket was a miniature painting.

A likeness of Queen Elizabeth’s mother.

Anne Boleyn.

2nd wife of Henry VIII.

Like I asked.

What might go through your mind?

a bit of the past
suddenly appearing in
front of us again

Based on the passage, … it is going to be an incredible thing to see this happen again, just because the sheer antiquity of it is something to marvel at. It is really like a bit of the past suddenly appearing in a time machine in front of us.

From the article, How coronation of King Charles will revive some of oldest British rituals by Esther Addley.

So this feller Charles III will be crowned King of England, the Lord’s anointed one to lead the people of Great Britain.

Chosen mostly because of who his ancestors were back when Queen Anne survived all of her 5 children who survived at birth (she had 12 others who did not) so that when Queen Anne died in 1714, the Brits went looking for King and chose the the Queen’s 2nd cousin, the first of the German George’s of Hanover whose family tree led to, eventually to Charles.

And the Brits get a new King but no choice.

While over here, though it is over a year away, America is facing an election that according to most polling, will offer two choices the no one in America wants to chose from.

So there you are.

Not for me at this time to say which way works out better.

I, for myself, am fascinated by the history.

In the article I quoted from there is this great point.

When King Charles enters Westminster Abbey for the coronation ceremony on Saturday, he will be preceded, among many other items of royal bling, by a short gold rod topped with a small cross, known as St Edward’s staff. Unlike the stone of destiny, the sword of mercy or the bracelets of sincerity and wisdom – all real items of regalia that will play symbolic roles in the ceremony – the staff has no role whatsoever. It is carried in at the start of the service, set on the altar, and then carried out again at the end.

In fact, no one has any idea what St Edward’s staff is meant to represent. When Charles II, restored to the throne in 1660 after the English Civil War, ordered his goldsmiths to remake the crown jewels that had been sold or melted down by parliamentarians, the inventory of items that had been lost included a staff of Saint Edward. And so one was made to replace it – an important symbol of something, even if no one could remember what.

I feel the whole spectacle is an important symbol of something, even if no one could remember what.

I feel there used to be a lot of things here in the United States that USED TO BE important symbols.

Right now, I can’t think of one that hasn’t been cheapened, lessened or just make small in recent years.

I can remember what they used to stand for.

And I miss them.

Take something relatively recent like FDR’s four freedoms.

Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Freedom of speech is under attack and abused at the same time.

Freedom of worship seems to still be around but the religion itself has been defamed and cheapened by those who use it for things other than to further the Gospel and worship God.

Freedom from want is promised yet in the worlds “Greatest” country yet promised at terms that are near draconian and citizens go hungry.

And as freedom from fear, now that everyone has a weapon, I feel less safe than ever. How this works out as the cost of being free has me at a loss.

This weekend I will sit in front of a time machine and watch a little bit history unfold in front me and think of times past.