Wednesday, December 20, 2006
JOHNNY, WE HARDLY KNEW YE - - Getting this John the Beloved To Linger
- Resa LaRu Kirkland
While attending Highland High School in the early 80's, I would often see a book in our library entitled, Johnny, we hardly knew ye. It had a youthful and smiling JFK on its cover, and was a memoir written by two of the future-President's aides regarding his first run for Congress in 1946.
I assumed the title had come from the fact that this particular Johnny died prematurely, but it actually turned out to be an old Irish war protest song. Oddly appropriate considering that the sixties ushered in the reign of this particular old Irish man, who brought in Vietnam, thereby creating that most useless of species, the Hippy. And oh! What that hath wrought.
OK, so he wasn't very old. But to a teenager, he was ancient. And to a proud Reaganite, he stood for everything nauseating, selfish, and cowardly that his decade came to be. The book was drivel, which meant the Hippy Press loved it, the critics worshipped it, and at least one teenager wasn't buying it. Heck, I wouldn't even check it out after reading the jacket. I was, after all, in an American school. I'd already had all the Political Castration I could stand. I certainly wasn't going to suffer through anymore on my own time.....................
Click HERE To Read On
While attending Highland High School in the early 80's, I would often see a book in our library entitled, Johnny, we hardly knew ye. It had a youthful and smiling JFK on its cover, and was a memoir written by two of the future-President's aides regarding his first run for Congress in 1946.
I assumed the title had come from the fact that this particular Johnny died prematurely, but it actually turned out to be an old Irish war protest song. Oddly appropriate considering that the sixties ushered in the reign of this particular old Irish man, who brought in Vietnam, thereby creating that most useless of species, the Hippy. And oh! What that hath wrought.
OK, so he wasn't very old. But to a teenager, he was ancient. And to a proud Reaganite, he stood for everything nauseating, selfish, and cowardly that his decade came to be. The book was drivel, which meant the Hippy Press loved it, the critics worshipped it, and at least one teenager wasn't buying it. Heck, I wouldn't even check it out after reading the jacket. I was, after all, in an American school. I'd already had all the Political Castration I could stand. I certainly wasn't going to suffer through anymore on my own time.....................
Click HERE To Read On
# posted by Publius @ 12/20/2006 09:37:00 AM 
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