It was a plane crash that killed 32 people, mainly illegal immigrants, and spawned Woody Guthrie’s song “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos).” For over 70 years, “Deportee” has come to signify the heartlessness of the American public, media, and law enforcement system towards illegal immigrants. Recorded by Joan Baez, Kingston Trio, Hoyt Axton, Nanci Griffith,… Continue reading Woody Guthrie’s Song “Deportee”: Well-Meaning Fantasy
Category: Things You’ve Never Heard Of
Capping San Francisco’s Panhandle Freeway: a Plan That Never Happened
The plan made a lot of sense. If you were going to have a freeway running right through San Francisco’s Panhandle, which itself connects to the eastern end of Golden Gate Park, why not partially cap it off? Edmund G. Burger, principal at Burger & Coplans, wasn’t the bad guy here, not by any stretch… Continue reading Capping San Francisco’s Panhandle Freeway: a Plan That Never Happened
Pink Floyd in 1889
Fans of Pink Floyd know the origin story by heart. Band member Syd Barrett combined the names of two blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. But the name Pink Floyd predates all of that. We’ve got the Pink Floyd who, in 1889, killed Cornelius Lowden: Then, of course, there’s the Michigan Pink Floyd who… Continue reading Pink Floyd in 1889
Let’s All Check on Senator Mary Landrieu’s Fishing Camp
History doesn’t always cooperate with us. The narrative that we are continually constructing often runs at odds with reality. Our outrage culture has built a story around Hurricane Katrina that’s pretty much the accepted narrative. One off-shoot of this narrative is that FEMA and its Director at the time, Michael Brown, were bumbling idiots who failed… Continue reading Let’s All Check on Senator Mary Landrieu’s Fishing Camp
Big Sur Stabbing: Writer “Falls Onto” Knife 9 Times
Big Sur, California, hugging the Pacific coast, is wreathed in fog and mystery. It seems like if you’re going to die there, it’s not a bad place to be. Novelist Dennis Murphy did not die–though the Fresno Bee did erroneously report his death–but he was stabbed in a most unusual way in a parking lot fight… Continue reading Big Sur Stabbing: Writer “Falls Onto” Knife 9 Times