Though barely remembered, Lafcadio Hearn is a national treasure of two countries. The man noticed and wrote about everything. Life’s minutiae reveal much. Tiniest minds smirk. Hearn’s recipes for making Boston brown bread, Mississippi corn bread, soda biscuits, Graham bread, potato bread, sponge bread, corn batter bread, milk rolls, Virginia rolls, flour puffs, rice cakes, sally lunn, pain perdu, Indian breakfast cakes and Haly’s buckwheat cakes will save your radiated ass after Commander in Chief Biden pushes that button. If you must go to town, there’s Hearn’s instructions for Miss Lester’s tea rusk, cream of tartar biscuits, Charlotte russe, rich soda biscuits with cream of tartar, sourmilk doughnuts without yeast, Wisconsin fruit cake, nougat fruit cake and cheap fruit cake. When nothing’s available, nothing will be cheap, so even plain donuts will be extravagant. You’ll need eggs, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Is it (or "be it" depending upon which side of the American divide one is on), "Commander in Chief" or "Commander in Chef"? Dropping bombs or dropping a souffle? More money in the former so I answered my own question.
Earth moving brilliance is the ability to see the entire world in small quotidian things. You've done it again, Mr Dinh.
Reflecting back on my viewing of several older Japanese films, one thing that gives them a unique feel is the way that virtually everyone travels, i.e., on foot. In same the way that the American Western gives the horse pride of place, the single most common image I associate with the Japanese film more than any other is people walking on foot through grassy countryside. Somehow this communicates peacefulness even when you suspect that something is about to happen on the road.
Hearn is yet another person I never knew of and likely would never have come to my notice had it not been for your recommendation. (In this respect, Breece D'J Pancake comes to mind.) Thanks also for the book link!
Lafcadio Hearn Is someone of whom I have never heard.
That is a good reason to keep exploring (and staying humble about your knowledge) because it is hard to do more than scratch the surface of things worth knowing about and experiencing.
His observation about Western shoes were prescient. They do symbolize many of the wrong, unhealthy turns that America has brought the world. Insulating ourselves from the world and seeking short term comfort ultimately turns on us physically and spiritually whether it is shoes, food, suburban (or tech toy obsessed) lifestyle or the comfort of a phone screen versus the vagaries and sometimes boredom of real life.
New Orleans where he was based at least was a vibrant city. what would he think of the danger and soulessness of most modern American alleys compared to the sense of life being lived found in Eastern Asian ones?
Wow, didn't know much about Lafcadio Hearn save for a really creepy ghost story that a high school friend (a fan of Hearn & all things Japanese) shared with me back in the day. Which frightened me so much when I first read it, that I've not re-read the story since.
Thank you for this wonderful journey of exploration for the mind and soul, Linh.
I believe that many global citizens that will not comply or obey to the Clown World psychopaths have chosen a similar path with higher awareness directing them to higher consciousness.
Channel your Lafcadio Hearn awareness to serenity.
So many people, so many stories. The perspectives are endless. I think it's crazy how people come into their own journey through life. Everyone's journey is different. Thanks for the read!
Hi everyone,
Andrei Codrescu wrote an excellent introduction to Hearn in the Paris Review:
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/02/the-many-lives-of-lafcadio-hearn/
Linh
Is it (or "be it" depending upon which side of the American divide one is on), "Commander in Chief" or "Commander in Chef"? Dropping bombs or dropping a souffle? More money in the former so I answered my own question.
Earth moving brilliance is the ability to see the entire world in small quotidian things. You've done it again, Mr Dinh.
Reflecting back on my viewing of several older Japanese films, one thing that gives them a unique feel is the way that virtually everyone travels, i.e., on foot. In same the way that the American Western gives the horse pride of place, the single most common image I associate with the Japanese film more than any other is people walking on foot through grassy countryside. Somehow this communicates peacefulness even when you suspect that something is about to happen on the road.
Hearn is yet another person I never knew of and likely would never have come to my notice had it not been for your recommendation. (In this respect, Breece D'J Pancake comes to mind.) Thanks also for the book link!
"Soon enough, we’ll see who has the wherewithal to survive." We will indeed.
Lafcadio Hearn Is someone of whom I have never heard.
That is a good reason to keep exploring (and staying humble about your knowledge) because it is hard to do more than scratch the surface of things worth knowing about and experiencing.
His observation about Western shoes were prescient. They do symbolize many of the wrong, unhealthy turns that America has brought the world. Insulating ourselves from the world and seeking short term comfort ultimately turns on us physically and spiritually whether it is shoes, food, suburban (or tech toy obsessed) lifestyle or the comfort of a phone screen versus the vagaries and sometimes boredom of real life.
New Orleans where he was based at least was a vibrant city. what would he think of the danger and soulessness of most modern American alleys compared to the sense of life being lived found in Eastern Asian ones?
Wow, didn't know much about Lafcadio Hearn save for a really creepy ghost story that a high school friend (a fan of Hearn & all things Japanese) shared with me back in the day. Which frightened me so much when I first read it, that I've not re-read the story since.
Thank you for this wonderful journey of exploration for the mind and soul, Linh.
I believe that many global citizens that will not comply or obey to the Clown World psychopaths have chosen a similar path with higher awareness directing them to higher consciousness.
Channel your Lafcadio Hearn awareness to serenity.
So many people, so many stories. The perspectives are endless. I think it's crazy how people come into their own journey through life. Everyone's journey is different. Thanks for the read!