Starting the Semiquincentennial Celebrations Early: The Shot Heard Round the World

 .

These are grim times for those of us who love America and everything that makes it great. But I'm going to resist that grimness by celebrating the hell out of our 250th anniversary and giving a shout out to as many of its virtues and achievements as I can.

Starting today, the 250th anniversary of "the shot heard round the world"--the first gun fired in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which turned a series of heated protests into an actual revolution. That revolution freed us from the tyranny of foreign rule.

The battle began when the Royal Governor of Massachusetts sent British soldiers to seize arms and powder stored in Concord and thus deprive the colonists of the means of rebellion. Long story short, it backfired terribly and at the end of the night, the War of Independence was begun.

What makes this worth celebrating is that the revolution was not ordered from above. It was an uprising of local patriots--a war of the people, by the people, and for the people.

There have been rocky times for the Union in the quarter of a millennium since. But in all that time Americans have never had to bend the knee to a monarch, whether foreign or domestic. That's worth celebrating--and preserving.

And while we're talking about tyranny . . .

This is an accomplishment that some presidents, strangely enough, do not seem to value particularly highly. Ronald Reagan accepted a British knighthood, which his wife Nancy had campaigned for. And less than a month ago Donald Trump declared his support for a plan for the United States of America to join the British Commonwealth.

In which event, America would have a king for the first time in a quarter of a millennium and all the blood spelled by patriots during the Revolutionary War would be dishonored. All to gratify the ego of one evil man.

But let's not let that happen.

*

Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #12 of 32

.

Setting of Lime Kiln

Just look at this! The skeletal twin towers look Old Testament. The figures down below them might as well be the Israelites in exile, laboring in the service of the Pharaoh.

Don't think that didn't occur to everyone there who got to see this lithograph, either.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

*

Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #11 of 32

.

Lime Nitrogen Oven Room

As with so many of these images, I encourage you to zoom in and admire the details. In this one, you should particularly admire all the small human figures and the whimsical (but accurate!) motor vehicles in the bottom right corner.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

*

Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #10 of 32

.

Locomotive Crane

The image speaks for itself.

So I'll mention instead that, years after we married each other, Marianne Porter and I both discovered that we were early fans of Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel. I because my name was "Mike," and she because the steam shovel's name was "Marianne."

It was fate.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

*

Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #9 of 32

  .

Coffer Dam and Intake Canal at Power House

Isn't this a wonderful image? It is! I hope you click on it so you can admire the fine detail.

This is a good time to pause and explain what the purpose of this enormous project was. It was 1918 and World War I, "the War to End All Wars," was ongoing. Lots and lots of ammunition was needed. And to create that ammunition, the armorers needed nitrates.

And here I will pause in the middle of the previous pause to mention that my father, whom I loved and of whom I was and am proud, was an engineer for General Electric. He worked on the space program and he worked on ICBMs--intercontinental ballistic missiles. Which is to say, he was front and center on the best and worst projects of the twentieth century.

The nitrates plant was finished just in time for the Great War to end. So it was never used for munitions. But nitrates were still needed for fertilizer. Swords were beaten down into plowshares.

So, like my father, Chesley Bonestell was front and center on the best and worst projects of the twentieth century.

 And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

*

Books I Own and You Don't: THE WRITER'S SIDEKICK

.

 

 

I have compiled this book as a useful tool for the convenient use of both the amateur and the professional author. To collect these gems I have cream-skimmed the writing of myriad novelists, to whom grateful acknowledgment is hereby made. To quote Montaigne: "I have here only made a garland of choice flowers; I bring nothing of my own but the thread that binds them."

--Clifford Pierce Redden 

I discovered Redden's The Writer's Sidekick at a writing workshop I agreed to teach at during the1980s. Like many an indie author, he apparently had trouble finding a market and so he left a stack on the freebies table. Had I realized how entertaining my fellow writers would find it, I would have swiped a dozen on my way out.

TWS is a compilation of adjectives, mostly compound and hyphenated, that Redden found attached to various nouns. Under JOKES, for instance, he has:

age-worn

back-number

bad-taste

barnacle-encrusted

below-belt

chuckle-compelling,

corn-fed

corset-busting

and so on, all the way to X-rated. The nature of the books the author consulted really shows in his categories of women, including B-GIRL (one page), BLONDE (two pages), HARLOT (one page), and NYMPHO (two). Some of them are pretty funny. TEEN-AGE SEXPOT includes:

sweater-bulging cheerleader

back-seat popularity

under-age sexcitress

butt-sprung usherette

haymow-taught sex

slumber-party gossip

and hand-knitted socks.

The unintentional comedy of "under-age sexcitress" and the like is amusing at first. But after a while, the sexism of the project makes reading it dreary and depressing.

 Still, in short bursts it's a hoot. And I'm absolutely certain you don't own a copy.

*

Chesley Bonestell's Lost Industrial Lithographs #8 of 32

 .

 

Looking from Coffer Dam to Power House

If you've been following this series of lithographs, I hope you've been clicking on the images to admire them in detail. There's a lot of it.

Note that in the background of this image is the smokestack of the powerhouse. This will pop up again and again in the series. It's the metaphoric North Star of the construction project.

And for those who came in late . . .

In 1918, Chesley Bonestell was commissioned to create a series of lithographs chronicling the construction of the government cyanamide nitrates plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It would be many years before he began painting the astronomicals that made him famous, but he already had tremendous technique.

The lithographs disappeared from public view not long thereafter.

Recently, my wife, Marianne Porter, and I bought what we think is a complete set of 32 at an auction. We had electronic files made of them, which we'll be posting here, one every weekday until they're all online. Then we'll make a torrent containing the complete collection in high density form, for whomever wants them.

All the images are in public domain. You don't have to ask anybody for permission to download them and you may employ them however you wish.

 

*