Su 6/28/20

Su 6/28/20

Up 7am: Cloudy, muggy with temps to 90. Shut the windows and AC is 'On'.

Watched a documentary from Hoopla, 'SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME'.

From the book's page at Amazon:

"A Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the “Age of Neoslavery,” the American period following the Emancipation Proclamation in which convicts, mostly black men, were “leased” through forced labor camps operated by state and federal governments.

In this groundbreaking historical expose, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history—an “Age of Neoslavery” that thrived from the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II.

Using a vast record of original documents and personal narratives, Douglas A. Blackmon unearths the lost stories of slaves and their descendants who journeyed into freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation and then back into the shadow of involuntary servitude shortly thereafter. By turns moving, sobering, and shocking, this unprecedented account reveals the stories of those who fought unsuccessfully against the re-emergence of human labor trafficking, the companies that profited most from neoslavery, and the insidious legacy of racism that reverberates today."

***By 1874 Reconstruction was a failure and the federal government withdrew and left the matter up to the states. This accelerated the push to 'lease' convicts to corporations and to use them in state and county projects.

***'Peonage' was made illegal in the US in 1867, but it was alive and well in the American South. If you are in debt your repayment cannot be extracted by taking your labor. 

Then watched, 'DANNY COLLINS' (Amazon Prime). An over-the-hill rockstar who has been surviving as a 'nostalgia act' for years learns that John Lennon expressed an interest in his work back in 1971. So he tries to turn his life around and meet his son's family that he had never taken the time to know. The letter that drives this film was actually sent by John Lennon to English folk singer, Steve Tilston. Lennon was telling him that,  “rich doesn’t change your experience in the way you think.”; with Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Bobby Cannavale, Jennifer Garner, and Christopher Plummer. A little on the cheesy side, yet still worth a look due to the stellar cast.   

Decided to watch two segments of, 'THE BLACK DEATH: THE WORLD'S MOST DEVASTATING PLAGUE' (Amazon Prime). For some reason Amazon will no longer show this after 7/1. Why?  These two episodes dealt with the political and economic changes after the first wave of the Black Plague. The world experienced a resurgence of the plague every ten years so things were pretty fluid. INTERESTING FACT: Eldest son inherited everything because if the estate was split between relatives, the estate would not yield enough wealth to make much of a difference.  The 'New Normal' included a lower class that was more powerful politically and had more purchasing power. If you survived, you were economically and politically better off than pre-plague conditions. 

230pm: preparing for a slightly earlier walk and will do the Weekly Cleaning when I return.

303 pm.Walk. Parkview to Wash. PK. South side, then south on Bates to Outer Park. Walnut north to Vine. West thru park, up the hill, Parkview down to 940. JUST SHORT OF 2 HRS. Mp3. LIVE VAN MORRISON, WAYNE SHORTER AND CARLOS SANTANA.

Read O-ZONE in the living room for 40 mins. Did Weekly Cleaning.

In the tub with P. Theroux. Listened to NEW ORDER, THE JAM.

Tonight I begin Season 6 of,  'BOSCH' (Amazon Prime). The start of another fine series.

Then watched another episode of, 'THE BLACK DEATH  (Amazon Prime).   'The Black Death in England'.