What's New in Old News?
The official newsletter of the Peripatetic Historian. November 2023, Vol. 3, no. 6.
Every outrage against humanity or international law was repaid by reprisals often on a greater scale and of longer duration…Every effort was made to starve whole nations into submission without regard to age or sex. Cities and monuments were smashed by artillery. Bombs from the air were cast down indiscriminately.
— Winston Churchill (writing about World War I)
Welcome to the October issue of What’s New in Old News.
In this Issue:
Peripatetic Field Report: And That’s How I Got to Irbid
Book News
Then and Now
Let’s get started…
Peripatetic Field Report: And That’s How I Got to Irbid…
As longtime readers of What’s New in Old News know, for the past fifteen months, my wife, Mary, and I have been living in Ramallah, Palestine. It has been a delightful sojourn, and contrary to conventional wisdom, we have always felt safe and secure, embraced by the warmth and hospitality of the Palestinian people.
I flew out of Tel Aviv on October 4, heading for the UK to begin my Fear and Loathing in the Heavens lecture tour. As I was preparing to give Saturday’s lecture in Edinburgh, Hamas unleashed its first barrage of missiles and a new, horrifying war began.
The first half of my tour unfolded beneath the shadow of concern for my wife—who had remained alone in Ramallah—and the friends I’d made in the West Bank. As missiles strayed toward Ben Gurion Airport, airlines canceled their flights. I couldn’t have returned even if it would have been sensible. Our Palestinian friends rallied around Mary and, despite their pressing concerns, made sure that she was safe and secure. Facing a deeply uncertain future and the possibility of a brutal conflagration that might soon spread to the West Bank, they still found time to care for the woman I love.
I shall not forget.
A week after the fighting began, the US State Department evacuated Mary from Ramallah; on Sunday, Oct. 15, she crossed the border into Jordan, ostensibly to wait two weeks to see if the situation calmed and returned to its normal slow simmer. It hasn’t.
The State Department offered two reassignment possibilities: Vietnam or Irbid, Jordan. We agonized over the decision—Irbid is uncomfortably close to Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. If a northern front opens we might find ourselves evacuating a second time. We experienced a strong temptation to put a continent between ourselves and this conflict.
Nevertheless, despite my longstanding desire to spend time in Vietnam, the time isn’t right. We will continue in the Middle East this year, bearing witness and offering what little support we can to our suffering friends.
Long time readers of What’s New in Old News? may have noticed my silence over the past year about the political (and now military) situation in Israel. My taciturnity is a self-imposed discipline. As my father liked to remark, “It is better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” At this time, nearly everyone has an opinion about this terrible war and many are eager to impress their views on the rest of the world.
I am going to resist the temptation to wade in with an outraged screed about a horribly complicated matter. A Palestinian friend once told me: “after a year in Palestine you will understand everything.” He was wrong; after more than a year and a considerable amount of study, I understand little—at least little that would suggest a way forward.
At the end of the day, here is what I know: war is wrong. Hamas’ brutal attack was wrong, as is Israel’s vicious bombing of Gaza. “Violence,” noted writer Isaac Asimov, “is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
The world needs a renaissance of competence or, I fear, we are doomed.
Further Reading
There’s little sensible in the press about this conflict, but after more than a year as an eyewitness to the Palestinian struggle, I found myself in strong agreement with this assessment:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/10/09/israel-hamas-war-american-left-matt-duss-00120536
Book News
Comet Madness
November Events
Fear and Loathing in the Heavens: The UK Tour
The British tour has fallen away like autumn leaves. Seventeen lectures in twenty-five days and then, like Halley’s Comet, I flew away. But, like the dust and ice of the Orionid meteor shower, a few signs of my passage remain.
Several of the clubs I visited filmed and posted videos of the lectures on YouTube. If you would like to see what all the fuss was about you can click on one of the links on the Media page of my web site or search YouTube for an example. My Edinburgh lecture came out well; click this link to watch the video:
Future events (at the moment via the magic of Zoom) are listed here:
LA Birdmen
The Official Cover Has Landed
Finally, after months in the making, the cover of the new book is ready for its official unveiling:
I don’t love the book’s subtitle. I wanted something less clunky, or, possibly better, to eliminate the subtitle altogether. My publisher wasn’t wild about the book’s main title (They wanted “Los Angeles Birdmen”). The final result—LA Birdmen: West Coast Aviators and the First Airshow in America—is the fruit of compromise. I got my title, they got their subtitle.
Compromise is a wonderful thing. I should probably send this story to the our elected officials who seem to have forgotten that governing doesn’t mean simply imposing your will on your political opponents.
But I digress…
Then and Now
Shrewsbury Abbey, England
Although I visited a number of charming towns during my whirlwind trip through the UK, I found Shrewsbury particularly enchanting.
The city sits on a prominence, encircled by a loop of the Severn River. Storm Babet had lashed the UK in the days before I reached Shrewsbury, and by the time I arrived, the river had overflowed its banks. A submerged path scuppered my plan to hike the river walk around the city:
NB: The black object in the lower left corner of this photograph is the top of a garbage can. There must be at least a meter of water at that point.
But localized flooding is not what I wanted to write about—I just mention it to be complete.
In fact, it is this building that interests me:
Shrewsbury Abbey is all that remains of a Benedictine monastery, founded in the late eleventh century, after the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror granted the land to Earl Roger de Montgomery, one of his favorite advisors. Montgomery, concerned about his eternal destiny, decided to establish a monastery, home to a group of monks who could offer intercessions for his soul in perpetuity.
Or at least to the infamous dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century. In 1540, the monastery was seized by the king and the remaining monks evicted. As was common in the years after the English Reformation, the monastery was razed and its stones were incorporated into new construction around the town. Today, only a portion of the original abbey church survives as the Anglican Abbey Church of the Holy Cross.
Little has changed in the century separating these two images. We’ve lost the governess pushing a baby carriage, but gained automobile traffic.
A fair trade?
Our relocation to Jordan brings a fresh adventure. Recently returned from Britain, I am adjusting to a new country, home, and opportunities. I’ll be back next month with an update on how it is coming.
Until then, be safe, be sensible,