My blog at this site is intended to be both a lens into both the Political and Social views of a native son who worked in the steel mills for college money, who was touched by the Spirit early on, and one who followed a noted respected father into his family's profession and then did something unique which is known outside of the area but not to the valley nor much understood.
This is also a more personal blog experience for those who are interested in getting to know more about the author and share with him some ideas and insights of your own about our region.
The title is driven by a couple of home town boys who made it big in the music and entertainment industry from our area, both of whom are personally known by the blog author and hence, the play on their well known titles and fame
[the wordplay is NOT original... OK, I understand!]
The titles are tongue in cheek, [sorry Rob, but it is inside the cheek lol!]
.... It also points up to the incredible talent and creativity that lies just beneath the surface of one of the oldest, complex, very suppressed and still economically and politically challenged areas of the the nation.
Not only is this region a home to tens of thousands of swing voters and creative citizens but also ...to folks like 'the Wu', and RZA, the hip hop masters of our generation and the funky beat of a groundbreaking white [if Italians are still considered white] rock and roller from Mingo Jct, of the baby boomers generation.
It is also home to many others who have made a deep impact on American life in other ways;
Certainly, among them, is no one less than [no, not Dean and the Pak]
...but John Bingham...from Cadiz
NO, he's not Custer's cousin or something and he's not Carol Lombard's former lover either...[sorry Clark 'G' man]
Instead, he remains a relatively unknown, if not, forgotten 19th century farm boy turned lawyer from Harrison County and he remains buried in a silent undistrubed grave in Cadiz Cementary ...
and yet what he wrote...as a reconstruction era congressman from this region, as a proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution, literally changed the United States forever...
and it has influenced or help create the basis of almost every legal document ever written, relied upon and submitted by every lawyer, from the first year lawyer trying to defend the impossible to the most well versed Jerry Spence fighting corporate America abuses and excesses and/or the FBI...or beating down segregation in the 1950- and 60's...
Today...what Bingham authored by its very language is utilized inside every criminal and civil trial if not, civil rights rights case ever brought since this little known today, Cadiz lawyer, John Bingham lived...and died in our valley.
[Its also noteworthy...the guy just happen to be sitting a few feet from President Lincoln when the Emancipation Proclammation was signed into law...]
Yet, the Valley, with its rot media/journalism, its unremarkable historical sentiment and its largely suppressed people, hardly do not know him or his contribution outside of his immediate hometown.
Certainly, very few local children know about his great singular contribution to America's consitutional debate and legal and social progress.
Why is this? Its not known for sure exactly but it is here suggested the same has to do with why this region is still so socially repressed in many ways, and very politically suppressed today and oftentimes, looking backwards rather than forward and constantly manipulated by much larger interests.
What is the solution? No one has a blueprint, but it has to start w/ public discourse and even public agitation, if not "merrymaking" as the revolutionary sons taught us back in Boston...
So, perhaps, ...just like the Wu themselves...would say.... its time to get beyond the gravel pit....and make some noise....from "O-H-I-O-Y-O..."
and let this damned valley's freedom begin to ring again, from Bingham's grave, the principal author of the 14th Amendment's key provisos, which was designed to change america forever.
and lets do this, ...all the way to the statehouse & to D.C.
and lets all really play some "fn" funky mUsic....
..... right on, baby....!
[that's right....come on....and lets get down and ...play....
some....
well you know the familiar hook....
and lets see, if the rest of america is still waiting....to hear something new from this liverpool like region which can once again inspire the masses....not just with music genius and great film stars, but in terms of politics and social movements as well....
its not going to be easy but it will be up to us to try....
and along the way, we may just discover what some already know and appreciate about those who come from this region....who have actually made a difference for others, across the region, as well as the nation
Some Favorite Movies and Artists
Changling Angela Jolie
The Deer Hunter
All The Kings Men Sean Penn
Manchurian Candidate Original w Sinatra, Perkins, Murder She Wrote
Mystic River Sean Penn and Tim Robbins
Shawshank Redemption Freeman and Tim Robbins
Full Metal Jacket Vincent DiNofrio
Vertigo Jimmy Stewart
Ciitizen Kane
A Touch of Evil Charles Heston
Apocalypse Now Martin Sheen Dennis Hooper and Zoetrope Studios
