I spent 5 minutes looking at the details of that photograph — which is by Damon Winter — and thinking and talking about it with Meade. I still haven't read anything more than the words you see there, the caption — "Erik Hagerman heads out for his morning ritual, a thirty minute drive into town for coffee and a scone, at his favorite coffee shop in Athens" — and the byline — "Glouster, Ohio" (so the Athens is Athens, Ohio not Athens, Georgia). I really haven't read anything more, even now, as I write this. I just love the image. I feel like saying — creative-writing-ishly — there, now, you make up the story.
I can't get over how much I love that image. I love the way the curve of the ground makes the house look like it's on its own little planet. I think of:
Searching for that image, which I knew I'd put up on the blog before, I found the 2010 post, "Obama plan to land on asteroid may be unrealistic for 2025." I had totally forgotten about that going-to-an-asteroid business, hadn't you? I was skeptical at the time. I wrote the sentence: "Go 5 million miles to paddle your gloved hands across the surface of a rock and stir up a cloud of razor-sharp dust particles that will — once you leave — hang there endlessly."
Searching the blog for the Little Prince, I also came up with this November 2017 post (which has a "Little Prince" image): "Trump and the elephants — what just happened?" ("So you've probably heard that Trump made an announcement that had to do with killing elephants, people got upset — because people love elephants — and then Trump took it back — kind of.") Coincidentally, Trump and the elephants is back in the news this week. "Trump’s cave to elephant and lion hunters" is deplored by the editors of the Chicago Tribune:
Some African governments allow [elephants] to be taken by trophy hunters.... Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tried to discourage this macabre pastime by outlawing imports of elephant trophies from specified countries. African elephants are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act, and the law says their body parts may be brought in only if “the killing of the trophy animal will enhance the survival of the species.”I think those words "Under President Barack Obama" bring tears to some eyes. There was a time! Once our quills were made to temporarily lie flat, but that time is gone.
But speaking of temps perdu, we left Erik Hagerman, walking down his ranch-house asteroid, nearing the bottom of the paved drive, which ends abruptly, like the end of a dreamlike Obama presidency. He must continue onto the rougher way of the gravel road. Where is he going? To the endless coffee cup and the scone.... Dare I step off the image I've said I love and walk onto the gravel path of the article?
Mr. Hagerman begins every day with a 30-minute drive to Athens, the closest city of note, to get a cup of coffee — a triple-shot latte with whole milk. He goes early, before most customers have settled into the oversize chairs to scroll through their phones. To make sure he doesn’t overhear idle chatter, he often listens to white noise through his headphones. (He used to listen to music, “but stray conversation can creep in between songs.”)Why? Why drive 30 minutes to get coffee if you don't want the company of other human beings? Surely, the whole point is to "overhear idle chatter"! But he plays "white noise" — nothingness. Not even music, because with music, there are spaces of silence, and "stray conversation can creep in between the songs." Why come down from your asteroid? It can't be the triple-shot latte with whole milk. Is it to truly experience loneliness, to see and need to defend against the others? To really feel your distance, you must approach.
At Donkey Coffee, everyone knows his order, and they know about The Blockade. “Our baristas know where he’s at so they don’t engage him on topics that would make him uncomfortable,” said Angie Pyle, the coffee shop’s co-owner.I'd skipped to the middle of the article, looking for coffee, and now I need to puzzle out Hagerman's problem:
Mr. Hagerman has also trained his friends. A close friend from his Nike days, Parinaz Vahabzadeh, didn’t think he was quite serious at first and, in the early days of The Blockade, kept dropping little hints about politics.Ah! He built a wall — The Blockade. I will build a great wall — and nobody builds walls better than me... I will build a great, great wall...
The new administration compelled her to engage more deeply in politics, not less. She had only recently become a United States citizen, and she was passionate about the immigration debate. She did not let Mr. Hagerman opt out easily. “I was needling him,” she said.
How to write about articles you've never read.... makes me think about how to make art about the stray chatter you overheard in the coffee shop...
Posts
96 comments:
"He lives alone and has never been married. As for money, a financial adviser in San Francisco manages his investments. Mr. Hagerman says he throws away the quarterly updates without reviewing them"
Well now his financial advisor knows he's safe to clean out the bank
So the NYT wants its readers to stop reading the NYT where one can get a daily and massive dose of anti-Trump gossip and stuff. Also preports on future Trumpian disasters.
The stockholders of the failing NYT thanks the editorial department for this great story.
I think the hilltop site was always picked by the first settlers building in Indian Territory. You see what's coming your way in time to get your gun. That was better even if your well had to be dug deeper.
But that early AM quiet in the country look is wonderful...dairy farm wonderful.
As a committed progressive, he ought to feel a little guilty about the greenhouse gases he’s emitting driving his Subaru (?) an hour round trip every day to get coffee.
He'll probably turn out to be a serial killer.
"As a committed progressive, he ought to feel a little guilty about the greenhouse gases he’s emitting driving his Subaru (?) an hour round trip every day to get coffee."
Not to mention the greenhouse gases of shooting a rocket to an asteroid.
Where does he park his car, out in the street? Why have a drive way?
Guy is ignorant of the following:
“James Comey. Russia. Robert Mueller. Las Vegas. The travel ban. “Alternative facts.” Pussy hats. Scaramucci. Parkland. Big nuclear buttons. Roy Moore.”
Also ignorant of:
Record increase in stock market, record low unemployment, record number of employed Americans, record American production of oil and gas, Hillary’s buying fake Russian dirt on Trump, the DOJ’s use of Hillary’s dirt to dupe a federal judge to spy on Americans etc.
What's he building in there?
What the hell is he building
In there?
He has subscriptions to those
Magazines He never
Waves when he goes by
He's hiding something from
The rest of us He's all
To himself I think I know why
He took down the
Tire swing from the Peppertree
He has no children of his
Own you see He has no dog
And he has no friends and
His lawn is dying and
What about all those packages
He sends. What's he building in there?
With that hook light
On the stairs. What's he building
In there I'll tell you one thing
He's not building a playhouse for
The children what's he building
In there?
This guy needs a Nespresso machine.
The Fool on the Hill.
"Where does he park his car, out in the street? Why have a drive way?"
They asked him to move it for the picture because it's a white van with no windows and you know what that means.
"He'll probably turn out to be a serial killer."
Oh well. Que Sera, Sera.
“Peppa Pig” is my (and my grandchildrens’) favorite animated kids’ TV program.
It’s British, produced by the same people who make “Ben & Holly’s Magical Kingdom.”
All the families in “Peppa Pig” live on top of a very exaggerated hill.
Once our quills were made to temporarily lie flat,
Nice. Made my morning.
I love it!
But why a morning drive when he is obviously on foot?
"It’s easy to look at what’s happening in Washington DC and despair. That’s why I carry a little plastic Obama doll in my purse. I pull him out every now and then to remind myself that the United States had a progressive, African American president until very recently. Some people find this strange, but you have to take comfort where you can find it in Donald Trump’s America.
— Jill Abramson in the Grauniad, as quoted by Steve Sailer.
Where does he park his car, out in the street? Why have a drive way?
I wondered about that too. Does his day start with a walk to wherever he parks his car? Perhaps he rents space in a neighbor's garage? Looks like his garage was converted into living space at some point.
She should mount the little doll on her dashboard, like some of my Indian colleagues do with Ganesh.
Is this a story about how politics intrudes on everything nowadays? Sometimes I’d like to block out all the noise. I enjoy being around people, but I like the sound of idle chatter, at a certain decimal level anyway. I like the buzzy noise and can mostly drown out the content. It’s hard to ignore the words “Trump” and “Republicans” though.
I’d rather listen to people discuss their bowel movements or sexual experiences than hear them complain about politics. Mostly because 95% of people are too stupid to have a respectable opinion on politics and shouldn’t be voting, and most of the other 5% aren’t much better. People are way too activated now by politics. I wish politics would fade into the background and people only discussed the mundane and the personal.
Usually I can't get through to the NYT articles, but this time I did. I loved this part of the subtitle: Living a liberal fantasy is complicated.
The guy sounds like a total douchebag. And while I am feeling cranky, let me add that "the dreamlike Obama presidency" wasn't so enjoyable for all of us.
Your post about the article is much more interesting than the article. I'm sorry I clicked over and started to read it. It was silliness squared.
The Erik Hagerman you conjure might be interesting. The Erik Hagerman of the article is a silly man. The author of the article is silly. The other people who appear in the article are silly. The newspaper is silly. Why did the NYT seek out a silly man in Ohio to write a silly article about silly people in a silly newspaper?
You're right about the photo though. I enjoy reading your analyses of photos as much as I enjoy seeing and analyzing the composition of your photos.
In other statue-related news:
Petition calls for Gandhi statue to be removed from Ghana University
Professors say late civil rights leader was racist and considered Indians to be ‘infinitely superior’ to black Africans
(Yeah, I got that from Sailer too.)
Where I grew up, houses were often were built on little hills like that, and in that style. So this photo is evocative of home for me.
(Mom and Dad has a split level though)
As silly as the man is, though, I have no trouble understanding taking pleasure in sitting in a cafe without having more than minimal interaction with other people. It's an animal thing, I think, wanting to have the animal comfort of being amidst the rest of the herd/pack/troop, while being free to woolgather in peace.
I was about to say I'd draw the line at the white-noise headphones, but considering the shitty, shitty, shitty, maddeningly shitty, unbearably shitty "music" they insist on playing at volume in what are otherwise perfectly decent hang-outs everywhere these days, I find I can sympathize with that, too. Maybe I will bring the noise-cancelling headphones along the next time I get the notion to go graze with the herd.
Evocative indeed. And my mind wanders ... to plumbing. Where does the water come from? Is there a deep well, with it's thrilling story of permits, drilling, depth, and flow? Is there mysterious hollow with a spring, hidden from the camera? Maybe rainwater and a cistern. The stories just spring to mind, and that without even touching on the sewage.
Our love of rituals like this are mostly a habit being imprinted. The joy comes from the running of the program and its predictable results at each point. I've learned to imprint easier, cheaper, more convenient rituals, and to avoid developing rituals that are not that.
For example: I've gone through all the coffee fads, expensive brands, equipment, processes, locations, and rituals around the coffee getting. They all seemed great at first, and then demanding, and eventually tyrannical.
I can't kick the coffee habit entirely, and don't want to, so I've now trained myself to like instant coffee. The ritual is quick, easy, and cheap. I find the enjoyment just as satisfying, with much less time, effort, and cost, leaving me with more time for other rituals of equally questionable value.
Paco quoting Jill Abramson in the Grauniad:
Every day is a disturbing new revelation about just how mentally and emotionally fucked-up these people are. People whose mental map is entirely at odds with anything resembling reality are your source of news, people.
...and quoting some other Grauniad story:
"Professors say late civil rights leader [Gandhi] was racist and considered Indians to be ‘infinitely superior’ to black Africans"
Ain't nothin' but the truth. Choke on your simple-minded morality tales, ya dozy progs.
"Where does he park his car, out in the street? Why have a drive way?"
To take a healthful stroll down as you go looking for your car, so you can drive 15 miles to get a cup of coffee. So green!
The real answer is somebody wanted to turn the garage into a room. Maybe the article says what he does there. It's not a mother-in-law apartment. It has its own door. Maybe it's an AirBnb. Maybe it's an AirBnB with -- among the house rules -- a requirement that you observe The Blockade. Along with no pets and no smoking, no talking about Trump.
The article says he ritualistically drives into town every morning for coffee--and also says he goes days for a time without "seeing" a soul.
Does not compute.
Who doesn't where earphones in public these days and ignore everyone else but your music or your video? Mr. H is only different because he wears white noise headphones. I stand out because I don't wear headphones at all.
Sometimes folks in Ohio park their cars at the end of the driveway in the winter so you don’t have to shovel a long driveway to get to the plowed road after a snowstorm. Athens Ohio is where Ohio University is located. Medium sized college town. His father was a professor there so I assume he has moved back to his roots. His father had some involvement with physiology and Olympic rowing team.
"Just a few years ago, he was a corporate executive at Nike (senior director of global digital commerce " who now "who lives alone on a pig farm in southeastern Ohio."
I call BS! As an Iowan, I know that IF you live on a 'pig farm', you have to raise (And SELL) pigs; otherwise, you're just some west coast poser that retired early and lives in the country.
He drives all the way (15 minutes!!) to a college town 'cause the locals at the diner would Laugh and Laugh at him (while wearing MAGA hats and talking about the price of corn in china) .
I have to go now and drive 35 miles to the WalMart (which is in a college town: Decorah)
"I think those words "Under President Barack Obama" bring tears to some eyes. There was a time! Once our quills were made to temporarily lie flat, but that time is gone."
LOL
This being Ohio, is that a natural mound or an Indian temple mound?
Do NYT columnists get paid by the inch?
Speaking of le temps perdu: a menu item I saw in a Québec greasy spoon was Pain Perdu d'Autrefois. It sounds terribly philosophical, although it turns out to be Old Fashioned French Toast.
Evidently, he hasn't seen those commercials for UNTUCKit dress shirts that are "just the right length" to be worn untucked.
"I pull him out every now and then to remind myself that the United States had a progressive, African American president until very recently."
Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment
That was known as
Camelot
This guy is the modern version of the ancient stylites.
Wes Anderson-ey, though the house could turn up the camp a notch or two.
It is a nice pic - framing, colors, and subject.
Brought to mind the Battle of Chatanooga. Bragg, IIRC, had put his line behind and above the "military crest" of Missionary Ridge. Ground at the very base of the hill was out of view. It could not be seen or fired upon from above because the line was too far back.
Grant had assembled his troops "as if for parade review" in the broad plain below. The troops were ordered forward to chase off the Confederate skirmishers and take a line of rifle pits near the base of the hill. Having done so, the troops found it safer to press on and start up the hill than to remain at the rifle pits. The result was an advance, unordered by Grant, and wholesale route of Bragg's forces.
This article is another example that a good chunk of the American people and its institutions --- colleges, the news media, some in politics --- lost their collective mind when Trump was elected, and have never recovered.
And if it comes to pass on January 19, 2025, that Trump is within hours of completing his second term, there will still be a hardcore set who will believe that he will magically be frog-marched away in handcuffs during his last day in office.
I make my coffee at home here on our little hill.
When I lived in New Hampshire I used to drive about 10 minutes to a country store to get coffee and a muffin and the NY Times.
A lot of jerking off in Walden Pond
Bragg, IIRC, had put his line behind and above the "military crest" of Missionary Ridge. Ground at the very base of the hill was out of view.
Interesting point although I have read that the charge up the hill was because the rifle pits provided no shelter for the fire from above.
At Waterloo, Wellington put his troops at the military crest and had them lie down. The French did not see them.
Once our quills were made to temporarily lie flat, but that time is gone.
I wish I had said that.
He has a satellite dish.
The next climate accord is to be named after King Arthur
It's true! It's true! The crown has made it clear.
The climate must be perfect all the year.
A law was made a distant moon ago here:
July and August cannot be too hot.
And there's a legal limit to the snow here
In Camelot.
The winter is forbidden till December
And exits March the second on the dot.
By order, summer lingers through September
In Camelot.
Camelot! Camelot!
I know it sounds a bit bizarre,
But in Camelot, Camelot
That's how conditions are.
The rain may never fall till after sundown.
By eight, the morning fog must disappear.
In short, there's simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering than here
In Camelot.
You try, as a. writer of musicals, to go someplace so absurd that surely the culture will not follow you there, a perfect escape!
"She (Parinaz Vahabzadeh) had only recently become a United States citizen, and she was passionate about the immigration debate."
I find this sentence interesting for how much it doesn't say. Is Ms. Vahabzadeh pro or anti immigration? The author doesn't tell us. Why?
Bose noise cancelling, in ear, headphones. Click the little button and ambient noise is reduced by 70+%. Push play on Spotify, Glen Gould. Goldberg Variations. Earlier version. Enjoy your time in the cafe or airplane without the fucking racket the commercial world wishes to hurl at you.
He concedes that he kept up with the world for decades but never did anything about anything he read or learned about. Other than to vote reliably Democrat I suppose. Which he presumably will still do so his willful ignorance now changes nothing. When he knew it didn't matter and now he doesn't know and it still doesn't matter.
Hopefully there won't be an outbreak of swine flu in his area.
Went to read the article and, based on the number of times snippets of news have reached the fellow, I don't think I believe the general premise-- he may not check the news feeds every ten minutes but I imagine it is a much more porous blockade that is being let on. Progressive nonsense. The one bright truth: AA's observation noted by Lars Porsena at 0841.
When I first saw the article and that beautiful photograph, I dared hope he was a lifelong resident of the place where he lives - a kind of bachelor-farmer primitive who had forsworn the news for reasons far deeper than politics. How naive of me; I should have guessed he was a man of means from elsewhere.
"Push play on Spotify, Glen Gould. Goldberg Variations. Earlier version."
Somewhere in the archive is my post collecting suggestions for music to listen to while trying to read in a café. I wanted to exclude the café's music and the distracting conversations, not to pay attention to the music I was using for this purpose. Bach was, of course, one of the suggestions, and I had my own Glenn Gould, "Goldberg Variations" in my laptop. But in fact, it's really hard to read while listening to that. It's to Bach's credit (and Gould's), but the thing draws your attention and holds it. It's uncanny!
At some point, I'm going to read that article. I have a feeling, I'm like that guy in a lot of ways and that this blog is a variation on what he is doing and something that feels much better. To be in and out at the same thing. It's more like Gould's "Idea of North."
The Gould clip is a perfect reflection of this blog.
Althouse as the maestro. The standard cast of commenters. The Inga/Chuck vs. Drago et.al. antagonists and their contrapuntal lines. Independent yet related harmonically. A difficult but hypnotic device.
After time the derivations lose their expressive force and reduce to predictable banality.
I remember a time when this comment section was interesting.
Ann Althouse
Agree. I now rarely use Classical music as background music. I am trying to intently listen and with orchestral to hear the individual instruments. A discipline I have not fully been able to follow.
Frivolous postscript:
Bill Murray made a fun B movie called The Man Who Knew Too Little.
"Living a liberal fantasy is complicated."
No, actually it's easy. Living in the real world is complicated.
Liberals love to congratulate themselves on how everything they do is "complicated," or "nuanced," or "smart."
Re: Glen Gould, the thing thatreally draws my attention in his recordings is his humming along with his playing. I first noticed this as a child, when it creeped me out because I thought there was someone else with me.
When I am trying to think through something, though, or complete a tick and tie type exercise, I find that humming along with a recording, singing to myself, or doodling idly on a piece of paper helps loosen up my thoughts a bit, as long as I'm not really concentrating on it. There can't be words, though (or if there are, they have to be in Italian or some other language I don't understand) because otherwise I'll concentrate on the words.
Etienne
Atown in France where they made 'canardier' duck cannons. Punt guns. Giant 8 gauge and bigger shotguns.
Typical pillow covering exercise
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/03/jane-mayers-dossiad-4.php
"his morning ritual, a thirty minute drive into town"
Already covered, but still: The Man Who Knew Too Little About Global Warming.
Or maybe, just maybe, another prog who doesn't believe his own BS.
"On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place."
So, he's driving 30 minutes to town and 30 minutes back - just for a coffee - oh sorry, a triple hot Latte - and a scone.
Its like a coffee and a doughnut - but très sophistiquétres
Factoring in depreciation, gas, tire wear, etc. = .40 cents a mile.
60 miles x .40 = $24 - that's an expensive triple hot latte and scone.
The real question is why did the NYT editors choose to write about this guy?
Does he know a NYT reporter? Or a friend/relative of NYT editor?
320 million Americans but they choose this guy to write about. And his Scone.
Why?
BTW, I doubt this guy is a native Californian.
They rarely take root back east. The humidity gets them.
Why is the little prince on a breast?
He walks down the driveway and then(?) he drives 30 minutes to town? Where's the car kept?
I would very happily support Obama's plan to land on an asteroid. If he can take Hillary! with him, where can I donate?
That's the back of the house. The front is facing the scenic view of the valley. The garage is probably on the side. I lived in this area for many years. It is beautiful.
As to why this doofus doesn't park closer to the house, I'm guessing either the hump at the top or the depression at the bottom of the driveway is too steep not to scrape the car's undercarriage or bumpers, so he's obliged to park on the street. I now know more about his so-called life than is desirable or healthy.
BDNYC: "People are way too activated now by politics."
Could this be because Government dictates to such a large portion of our lives?
Government (federal, state, and local; thorugh direct and passed-through taxes) removes near 50% of our income. Regulations and requirements further restrict or dictate our use of the remainder.
The photograph was taken in the Winter, and appears to be Ohio. Any threat of snow, and you might not want to park on that driveway if you expect to get out in the morning.
When I lived CT, I had a long and fairly steep driveway, too, but in other direction. Before I got a pickup, I had to park the car at the top of driveway in the Winter if I didn't want to spend major time clearing and salting the driveway before leaving in the morning.
I didn't read the article, but I'll bet this guy's really proud of himself and his principled stand, even if, and maybe particularly though, he knows it accomplishes nothing. As someone else above commented, the Obama years were not great for lots of people, but we had better manners than to make a display of our displeasure. As for the house, F.L. Wright said that a house should not dominate a hill but that the two should potentiate each other. This one's clearly taken over the hill.
He has filled an entire room of his house with a 3-D rendering of the property to better envision his plans.
I wished they'd shown the rendering. There are echoes of relief maps in some of his artwork.
My son was at a camp at Ohio University this summer. We actually stopped in the Donkey Coffee mentioned in the article. Fair trade coffee with a side of social justice. Mentions it on the menu. Quite different than when I attended there many years ago. Pretty sure not many MAGA hats on the regulars there.
Erik is about 30 yards from a barn that could hold a Greyhound bus. There is another barn that might be a hog abode.
Knowing Glouster, Ohio and the surrounding area, this guy is hardly typical but would be in Athens proper.
As he walked down the grassy hill on his way to the morning latte Erik realized with a sudden shock he hadn't seen Christina for several days.
He should have hidden that ashtray in the bedroom. I also note that's he's ready for high water. You have to respect a man who's always prepared.
Dude needs a few tons of 3/4" minus to fill that navigable waterway forming at the base of the paveway
So it's all about keeping out Trump? I'm not going to read any further. Except now I am curious.
Reminds me of Christina's World.
God! Now I know what attracts me to this blog! Attach an Obama doll to a dashboard. Pick yer gods ta match yer obsessions What folly! Pithy comments for a pithy point of time. Makes me pine for 80's hair bands with no political agendas. Being on Def Leppard!
@SayAahh
Thanks for getting me.
"I really haven't read anything more, even now, as I write this. I just love the image. I feel like saying — creative-writing-ishly — there, now, you make up the story."
Title this post: The Woman Who knew Just Enough Not to Bother Reading "The Man Who Knew Too Little."
Having studied the house in the hill, however, you have to have figured out that Athens, OH, (Home of the BobKitties and the Marching 100) is in moraine country, and is surrounded by three state parks and a state forest. On the other hand, Athens, GA, (Home of the Bulldogs and the loser in overtime to the 'Bama Tide in the FBS National Championship) is flatter than a pancake and may soon be surrounded by Atlanta.
MikeinAppalachia said...
Knowing Glouster, Ohio and the surrounding area, this guy is hardly typical but would be in Athens proper.
More likely, if your looking for your favorite latte and scones, you have little choice but to go to the Catalyst Cafe on Union Street in Athens adjacent to the Ohio University campus.
"On the other hand, Athens, GA, (Home of the Bulldogs and the loser in overtime to the 'Bama Tide in the FBS National Championship) is flatter than a pancake and may soon be surrounded by Atlanta."
Athens, GA (and much of N. GA) is quite hilly in places -- Baxter Hill, North Ave. -- Even my own stretch of Finley Street is still cobblestone since it much too steep to pave.
“ ‘Living a liberal fantasy is complicated.’
No, actually it's easy. Living in the real world is complicated.”
“Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It’s getting hard to be someone but it all works out. It doesn’t matter much to me.”
Ann Althouse said...
@SayAahh
Thanks for getting me.
3/10/18, 5:38 PM
Better topics, better comments. Elevate us if you want us to elevate you. Elevate yourself. Elevate your game.
The counterpunctual commenters on this blog imitate the comic stylings of the Warner Brothers cartoons: Bugs vs. Elmer, Bugs vs Yosamite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn vs. The Dog, Marvin the Martian vs Daffy, Tweety vs Sylvester, etc.
That’s all, Folks!
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