Here is your open thread for March 23, 2020.
Phil Keaggy turns 69 today. Jimi Hendrix never heard him play and thus never said anything about him, but Keaggy really is a terrific guitar player. (Also too, the guy’s been in the Christian-brand music world for decades and everybody who’s ever worked with him seems to think he’s just exactly as nice as he seems to be. I can’t stress how rare that is.)
That persistent white evangelical urban legend about Hendrix and Keaggy is intriguing in that Keaggy himself has always pointed out not just that it isn’t true, but that it isn’t really even possible. Yet the story endures because the subculture’s longing for validation by the larger culture endures. We draw apart from the world, we eschew worldly things and condemn the worldliness of those who are in and of the world. And yet the whole time the one thing we want more than anything else is for the worldliest worldly people to be as jealous of us as we are of them.
The University of California was founded on March 23, 1868 — 152 years ago today. The founders of the school initially apologized for charging any tuition at all: “For the time being, an admission fee and rates of tuition such as the Board of Regents shall deem expedient may be required of each pupil; and as soon as the income of the University shall permit, admission and tuition shall be free to all residents of the state.”
Free college for all has always been the plan. The University of California stuck with that plan for more than 100 years.
On March 23, 1980, Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero preached a sermon in which he pleaded with soldiers in the country’s military to refuse to kill their fellow citizens:
I would like to make a special appeal to the men of the army, and specifically to the ranks of the National Guard, the police and the military. Brothers, you come from our own people. You are killing your own brother peasants when any human order to kill must be subordinate to the law of God which says, “Thou shalt not kill.” No soldier is obliged to obey an order contrary to the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. It is high time you recovered your consciences and obeyed your consciences rather than a sinful order.
Romero was gunned down the next day.
Akira Kurosawa was born 110 years ago today. I’ve seen Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Ran, and Dreams. Which of his movies should I watch next?
Bette Nesmith Graham was born 96 years ago today. Yes, she was the mother of Monkee Michael Nesmith. And, yes, she really did invent Liquid Paper.
Roger Bannister was born 91 years ago today. In 1954 he became the first person to run a four-minute mile.
Today would have been Ric Ocasek’s 76th birthday. Here’s “Magic.” Chaka Khan turns 67. Here’s “Tell Me Something Good.”
Today is the birthday of both Ron Jaworski (he turns 69) and Moses Malone (who would have been 65). Schools and businesses in Philadelphia will be closed tomorrow.
Amanda Plummer (63), Catherine Keener (61), Hope Davis (56), Michelle Monaghan (44), and Keri Russell (44) were all born on March 23. Put any three of those actors in the same movie and I’ll buy a ticket.
Today is also the 49th birthday of Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playmate of the Year who is, alas, best known for the worst decision she ever made. Robert Jeffress is soooo jealous of her.
Finally, today is World Meteorological Day. The theme for this year’s World Meteorological Day is “Count Every Drop, Every Drop Counts.” OK, then.
Talk amongst yourselves.
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