Dear Mr. Steinberg,
I always look forward to your column in the Sun-Times, and thoroughly enjoyed the recent offering on the blockbuster film Barbie.
Yesterday I saw 'The Sound of Freedom' and think it should be on many 10 Best Films of the Year lists. I hadn’t heard much about the film and was taken aback by the content and the message therein.
I texted a friend about it and he said he wouldn’t see it because of QAnon.
I can’t say I’ve ever heard of QAnon and googled same. I’m still a bit in the dark about this American political movement and theory, as I am sure others are.
Please see the film and write an article about your observations as well as those you have on QAnon.
Thank you,
Dick N.
Rogers Park
My reply:
I appreciate you reading my column, but that doesn't make me in any way more open to the way QAnon has cynically seized the real problem of child trafficking as a figleaf to cover their shameful and toxic conspiracy peddling and anti-rationality. As for seeing the film, I will instead quote Kierkegaard: "Happy is he who didn't have to go to hell to know what the devil looks like." Since you profess to "still being a bit in the dark" about of QAnon — I don't see how that is possible, it's been around for years — and say you respect my opinion, allow me to fill you in: anyone parroting QAnon is either mentally ill, a chronic liar, irredeemably stupid, or some combination of the three. Thanks for writing.
As the Teletubbies said, "Again! Again!"
You are one of my favorite ex-Chicago authors and bloggers. (As I am an ex Chicago resident since 2005.) However you also seem to not have an actual clue as to how life goes on before and after Covid to the great majority of actual Illinois, Cook County, and Aldermanic Ward residents.
My friends and relatives do suffer from these residencies. Their choice for now.
It might be more elucidating, and interesting if you, yourself spent more time within the City Limits, and then used your fine writing skills to report and reflect back to your readers.
I am a long time fan, (and ex Northbrook resident for one delightful year: 1970) but just wonder why you are no longer in the actual mix, of Chicagoland.
— Mary C.
I chewed on that a bit, then tried to answer with all the candor I could muster:
Mary:
Thanks for reading my column, for liking what I do, generally, and for your on-point suggestion and intriguing query.
I suppose the honest answer to your question of why I don't spend more time in the city is a mix of the isolation and slow decay of age, lingering COVID, both tamping down society and affecting me personally — I was laid up with it most of July — not to forget my characteristic laziness, plus a lack of need. My most popular columns tend to be about some inane social subject — shopping at Aldi's — while columns that involve spending the morning crawling around Lower Wacker Drive with the Night Ministry get a chorus of crickets. I still do them, when I can find something, and try to go to the city whenever possible — I was there last Wednesday, at the Field Museum, then walking up the lakefront to the Gold Coast, then across the River Walk. On Friday, I was on the West Side, standing on the corner of Damen and Fulton, watching a Water Department crew repair a fire hydrant for two hours. I'll attach a photo below. That column will run a week from today.
Until then, thank you for your patience when my column strays from your vision of what it should be, one that I share with you. That said, while I don't have many rules, as a writer, one I do adhere to is that I should always be who I am. This is who I am right now, for good or ill. Lately I've been quoting to readers dissatisfied with that person a sharp line from Shirley Jackson : "If you don't like my peaches; don't shake my tree."* But in this case, your remarks have such obvious merit, that doesn't quite apply, so I'll just say is that I agree with you, and will strive to do a better job of capturing the Chicago scene.
Best,
Neil Steinberg
There's more, but you get the idea.
Sad that dick fell for that absurd movie about children being stolen, when multiple articles have debunked most of it & the star of it, Jim Caviezel has gone full Qanon since it came out & has shown himself to be even crazier than I previously thought he was.
ReplyDeleteHe is one of just a few actors that refuses to kiss any woman that's not his wife, in a movie or TV show.
That's just like loony Mike Pence who refuses to be in a room alone with a woman, apparently because he just can't control himself, is all that I can figure out, unless of course he's so delusional that he actually believes that women will throw themselves at his feet, so he can ravage them!
Amen brother.
DeleteGood answers!
ReplyDeleteYour whole schtick is Chicago. Almost every column ties back to Chicago. You have written books about Chicago - the last one shares the name of the blog and is great.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Mary C. had a baseless comment.
DeleteI'm always grateful when someone mentions Aldermanic Ward, one of Montgomery's less famous cousins.
DeleteApropos nothing much, I would love to see you take on Kirk Cameron and his fanatical Christianity. He's lately been harassing librarians, insisting on renting meeting rooms to read his awful books to children. As a retired Librarian, this annoys me no end. He and his fanaticism need more exposure and you would do that well.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be delicious to have drag queens come to libraries and read Cameron's books to the public... giving the content exactly the treatment it deserves.
DeleteDrag queens reading Kirk Cameron? A talented queen can read the phone book and be entertaining, but there are limits.
DeleteI was a huge fan of the series Person of Interest which was on regular TV several Years ago. James Caviezel was one of the stars, and I thought he was excellent in the role he played. I knew he was nuts before so I was surprised by his performance because I knew he was nuts before the series. He has gone full nutter now. Shame. Seems as if many actors, some really outstanding (like Elizabeth Moss) buy into the lunacy of Scientology and other crazy (to me ) ways of thinking and believing. Maybe you have to be "out there" to act in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWe were big fans of "Person of Interest," as well. Caviezel and that whole cast were excellent, indeed. I did not know "he was nuts before," so I've been pretty disappointed to discover that relatively recently.
DeleteJohn Voight is a great actor. I don't know if he is a Quanon person but I think he is kind of nuts.
DeleteI am a little distracted by your Teletubbie reference. I always found them to be strange, odd, creepy even. In reflection, I think your reference is spot on given the nature of the above mentioned mail.
ReplyDeleteCompletely creepy. Though sometimes, if there are a few rabbits and squirrels in the yard, I'll look at the window and say, "It looks like the opening of 'Teletubbies' out there."
DeleteYes, but what is that in the jar? It's somewhat reminiscent of an elephant. I'd like to think it's symbolizing the slow decay of the GOP, but that's probably a stretch.
ReplyDeleteIn any case Ray Bradbury's been on my mind -- he often is -- and it calls to mind this story:
http://www.digital-eel.com/blog/library/The_Jar.pdf
An octopus, on display at the Field Museum's Death exhibit.
DeleteYes, of course. I should have realized. Thanks!
DeleteJoyce, I thought the *thing* floating in the jar looked like an elephant, too! Something about the wrinkly gray, with an eye stuck into it. Also, I love your connection to Ray Bradbury. Jill A
DeleteTrafficking children and women for sex gets all the headlines, and all the Hollywood attention, but the vast majority of human trafficking is for cheap labor. I'm still waiting for the right to give a shirt about that.
ReplyDeleteWhere's the picture of the hydrant being repaired. You promised! Now I'm crushed.
ReplyDeleteWhoops, sorry. I've tucked it above. Uncrush thyself.
DeleteCharles Troy is giving a multimedia presentation at Skokie Theater on Wed. Aug. 9th. He is a musical theater historian and graphic designer.
ReplyDeleteTribune's Rick Kogan profiled Mr. Troy in 2014; interesting background and vivid presentations. I'd go if I wasn't already on vacation.
Thanks, Mr. S. I learn something new ay this blog, every goddamn day. I never knew, until today, that Irving Berlin penned that line...not Steve Miller...or Shirley Jackson...or anybody else.
ReplyDeleteThe mother of my wife's ex-husband owned a large collection of sheet music, some of which dated back to Roosevelt's day. As in Theodore. We have it now. Never saw that one before.
Gotta love the cover art, too. Pretty racy for 1914. The gentleman is staring at the lady's...um...low-hanging fruit. And everything's...just peachy. When I showed the image to my wife, she snorted and said exactly what I expected to hear: "Hey, pal...my eyes are up here."
That cover art is by John Frew, a popular commercial artist of his time, and a number of his other cover artworks are easily found on-line. That piece seen here is about as risqué as he ever got, with a few others that veer in that direction, but many mainstream works that wouldn't raise an eyebrow.
DeleteI got the impression that he was usually guided by the client in what they wanted to see, but sometimes it looks like they just handed him the title and told him to wing it (speaking of which: "Wait Till You Get Them Up in the Air Boys," with a couple of women snuggled into the cockpit of a biplane).
The first time I heard that line was years ago, when I was but a wee one. It's in a song titled "If the River Was Whiskey," by Charlie Poole.
DeleteDon't have the biplane one, but we do have "Come, Josephine, In My Flying Machine"...from 1910. Different commercial artist, though. The name looks something like :"Starcher"...can't tell for sure. It's rather fuzzy.
DeleteFound the lyrics online...and the artwork is far more titillating (sorry) than the words, which are more about proposing marriage and less about tree-shaking or peach-picking.
DeleteUpon further review, the lady is.leaning on her beau's upper arm. He doesn't appear to be all that thrilled by her proximity. This image would make a great poster. Lovely shade of green, as calming and as soothing as leaves on a summer's day.
Your "Come, Josephine" commercial artist was William Starmer, another prominent cover artist of the time (along with his brother Frederick).
DeleteSolid replies; a particularly gracious one to Mary.
ReplyDeleteWhile we readers enjoy your occasional reviews of cultural activities and restaurants, NS, you're not a film critic so there's obviously no reason for you to see any movie you don't want to, let alone that one. It may be just as well to cover QAnon in a paragraph, as you did, rather than via the prod of Mr. Caviezel's project.
Hey, I'm an Aldermanic Ward resident! I don't get how a regular reader can come to the conclusion that "you are no longer in the actual mix, of Chicagoland." For somebody who can write about whatever you want, it seems to me that you spend plenty of time in the city. Regardless, you live in Cook County and certainly spend the big majority of your time in "Chicagoland."
I'm definitely guilty of not responding as readily to things like your Night Ministry columns as I do to the more light-hearted fare, but that doesn't mean that the reporting is not appreciated.
Hmmm... I guess the Steve Miller Band was really late to the game with their peach tree reference in "The Joker," then. ; )
I recall just about all the lines in "The Joker" came from earlier R&B songs from the 1950s and maybe early 60s.
Deletei, too, liked the column about the night ministry. Yet I failed to say so at the time. The reporting is much appreciated! Jill A
DeleteI've always loved Maria Maulder's rendition of "peaches"
ReplyDelete