History
- Written by: Christopher Barnet
- Category: History
For Part 4 click HERE
Short memories were a commodity much in demand after the war. I can understand a man looking after his own skin. That is to be expected even if it shows a certain lack of courage and honour. Especially these men. They carried an oath with them to the graves. That was always the intention. They seem to have taken up oaths as others would their shopping. They had declared a fellowship that could never end. It ended the day the war finished. Their oath lasted five minutes after the old man shot himself in the bunker. They swallowed their promises and shat it out into the Americans hands. They are worse than Jews. A Jew is doomed to his condition. There's no escaping it. They live with it to the end of their days. These criminals. They had been given a chance to become something they could never have hoped for — they took it — parodied it — then when the time came — they turned on it.
- Written by: Tom Hedges
- Category: History
North Platte is known for four historical sites – Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park; a Pony Express Station; Baily Switchyard... and The North Platte Canteen.
- Written by: Christopher Barnet
- Category: History
For Part 3 click HERE
- Written by: Curtis W. Long
- Category: History
It is now all so hallowed and holy, with the documents sanitized and vacuumized, and a George Washington apotheosized. It has become such an untouchable temple – that mythical American Revolution. The school books formed our early vision of that remote city upon a hill, idealized and motive-pure. That mush of which our early brains are formed is difficult to overcome. The fact is, if Washington had stood against the British landing at New York, with his bedraggled army of unproven amateurs – instead of smartly skedaddling across the river – there would have been no revolution. All that mythical nonsense would have remained in the Land of Myths.
- Written by: Christopher Barnet
- Category: History
For Part 2 click HERE
These people had seen the best of a generation plucked from them in the First World War and lost not to historical battles of significance but to the callousness of their leaders. Our men knew why they were fighting. Our people knew we needed breathing space. The larger the space the better the breathing. Our men entered battle like the ancient warriors they were. While every other soldier in Europe dressed for war as if they had gone to a hemp factory — our men looked like they were emissaries of the devil.
My stepfather was an iron worker and as a kid I ran coffee and donuts for his crew. Most jobs were only a few days, but work on the Twin Towers seemed to go on forever. I got to ride the superfast construction elevators that put Coney Island to shame. I saw that incomparable view long before most New Yorkers would. I got to know the ins and outs of the place from the inside out. From my neighborhood in Park Slope, I watched the progress as each new floor was added. While many thought the design "boxy" and "brutal" at the time, they held a special place in my heart from day one, not only because I felt myself part of the crew that built them (slight exaggeration, unless the caffeine and sugar I supplied could be credited) but because they would be the tallest buildings in the world and that fed my young New Yorker pride. Few people then or now, realized how many died during construction, but for me at the time it seemed an almost daily event. This lent a gravitas and solemnity to the buildings importance.
- Written by: Curtis W. Long
- Category: History
This writer recently published a poem on IFZ: "American Heritage". There ensued questions as to why the Irish were not included among the marginalized classes depicted in the poem. They were there, but as part of the seemingly confused, questioning majority.
- Written by: Curtis W. Long
- Category: History
For the ever-dwindling number of us who saw most of the 20th century, Donald Trump's racial and religious rants pale in comparison to what has been heard on the streets and within the hallowed halls of local and national legislatures. Not that those sentiments have gone from our national scene; they merely have gone underground and been prettied-up.
Read more: TRUMP’S BIGOTRY IS LATE, BUT IN LINE WITH OUR AMERICAN HERITAGE
