1. I walked with Alex Trebek again today because Episode 4 of the podcast This is Jeopardy examined the span of Trebek's Jeopardy hosting career as he grew, in the public eye, into a universally recognizable celebrity, well beyond his role as a game show host. He appeared in television episodes, like The X-Files and The Golden Girls, was the subject of parodies on SNL, and appeared in movies like White Men Can't Jump. The episode also explored the ongoing saga of Trebek's mustache, his willingness to participate in pranks on the show, his preoccupation with accuracy, especially in pronouncing words, and his his repartee with contestants.
My walk was a moderate one that I enjoyed thanks to the cool temperatures. I parked the Sube at the Trail of the CdAs across from The Beanery and walked west to a spot where one can leave the main trail, go up a short incline, and arrive behind the Mining and Smelting Museum. I sauntered over to McKinley Ave, walked east until I reached Hill Street, walked down the hill, across from Teeters Field, and soon I was back to the car.
This route isn't quite a mile long -- it was a walk low on quantity, but high on quality -- I felt the benefits of this walk most fully when I went to bed and slept comfortably and soundly.
2. I wasn't expecting tonight's HelloFresh dinner, One Pan Trattoria Tortelloni Bake with a Crispy Premesan Panko Topping, to be so easy to fix, but it was both simple and tasty.
I crushed and minced two cloves of garlic and diced two tomatoes. In a small puddle of olive oil I heated up the garlic, a pinch or two of chili flakes, and a packet of Italian seasoning until fragrant and then added the diced tomatoes.
Once the tomatoes softened, I added a packet of tomato paste, cooked it for a minute, and then added a cup of water, mushroom stock, and cream cheese and cooked and stirred this until the cream cheese was combined with the liquid.
Earlier, in a small bowl, I had combined panko and shredded Parmesan cheese along with salt and pepper.
I added the packet of cheese tortelloni to the tomato sauce and simmered it all until the tortelloni were tender.
As a grand finale, I sprinkled the panko/Parmesan mixture over the tortellonis and sauce and put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes until the bread crumbs were browned and crunchy and the cheese had melted.
That was it!
In what seemed like no time, Debbie and I enjoyed a delicious and filling bowl of this simple meal.
In my ongoing commitment to learn more about anti-government movements fueled by conspiracy stories and fear, while I cooked, I listened to an episode of Fresh Air that was broadcast about a week ago.
Terry Gross interviewed historian Matthew Delleck about his new book, Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized The American Right, a study of the origins and impact of the John Birch Society. If you would like to listen to this interview, it's here.
3. My explorations into the ideologies and actions of the white power movement in the USA, both historically and in the present, has flooded my mind with names, places, publications, events, attacks, bombings, murders, trials, stand offs, ideas about firearms, countless names of groups -- their strategies, political convictions, and religious practices and beliefs -- and ideas about the US Constitution and patriotism.
I finished Kathleen Belew's book, Bring the War Home today. It's a study, supported by archival material, publications, interviews, and many other sources, of the increase in white power activity following the end of the Vietnam War. Her book concludes with the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and makes a compelling argument that the bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was not a "lone wolf", but was tightly connected to white power groups and leaders from Arizona to Michigan to Oklahoma and beyond.
Having finished Belew's book, I decided to listen again to Leah Sottile's podcast focused on the Oklahoma City bombing and Timothy McVeigh entitled, Two Minutes Past Nine.
Sottile's podcast is divided into eleven episodes, each about fifteen minutes long.
Belew's astonishing book is a work of historical scholarship, a distillation of the copious amount of information and the writings of white power leaders found in archival and other sources in libraries, other scholarly studies, white power publications, and other places.
Belew's book is exhaustively documented and is the result of not only her research, but of consultation with scores of people who helped her, as outlined in her acknowledgments.
Sottile's podcast is a work of journalism.
Sottile interviews government agents who investigated the Oklahoma City bombing, another FBI agent who infiltrated white power groups, Bill Morlin, longtime investigative reporter with The Spokesman Review, whose work over the years focused on extremist white power groups; she interviews the son of Turner Diaries author William Pierce (this book is regarded by many as a white power Bible and helped shape McVeigh's thinking and his work as the [or one of the] bomber [s]); she interviews Kerry Noble, one of the founders of the anti-government, survivalist, Christian Identity militia called The Covenant, the. Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, another group, the remnants of which McVeigh communicated with at the white power compound in Elohim City, OK.
And there's more.
Sottile's podcast echoes Belew's work and moves into some things more deeply, in part because Sotille's podcast is more focused on the Oklahoma City bombing whereas Belew's book has a wider sweep.
If you are still reading this post, please know that I know that I am scratching the surface of the work of Belew and Sottile and that I'm very much in the process of piecing things together. Please excuse any errors I might make. It's an inevitable aspect of blogging. I'm writing while in the middle of reading and listening and some of what I write day to day might need correction or clarification.
I'll just say it helps me to put it all down.
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