Intersection

by David B. Parker

As published in the JOURNAL OF THE GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF HISTORIANS, vol. 15 (1994), pp. 49-63.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is one of America's favorite pieces of juvenile literature. Children like it because it is a good story, full of fun characters and exciting adventures. Adults--especially those of us in history and related fields--like it because we can read between L. Frank Baum's lines and see various images of the United States at the turn of the century. That has been true since 1964, when American Quarterly published Henry M. Littlefield's "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism." Littlefield described all sorts of hidden meanings and allusions to Gilded Age society in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: the wicked Witch of the East represented eastern industrialists and bankers who controlled the people (the Munchkins); the Scarecrow was the wise but naive western farmer; the Tin Woodman stood for the dehumanized industrial worker; the Cowardly Lion was William Jennings Bryan, Populist presidential candidate in 1896; the Yellow Brick Road, with all its dangers, was the gold standard; Dorothy's silver slippers (Judy Garland's were ruby red, but Baum originally made them silver) represented the Populists' solution to the nation's economic woes ("the free and unlimited coinage of silver"); Emerald City was Washington, D.C.; the Wizard, "a little bumbling old man, hiding behind a facade of paper mache and noise, . . . able to be everything to everybody," was any of the Gilded Age presidents.(1)

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was no longer an innocent fairy tale. According to Littlefield, Baum, a reform-minded Democrat who supported William Jennings Bryan's pro-silver candidacy, wrote the book as a parable of the Populists, an allegory of their failed efforts to reform the nation in 1896. "Baum never allowed the consistency of the allegory to take precedence over the theme of youthful entertainment," Littlefield hedged at one point; "the allegory always remains in a minor key." Still, he concluded that "the relationships and analogies outlined above . . . are far too consistent to be coincidental."(2)

It was an interesting notion, one scholars could not leave alone, and they soon began to find additional correspondences between Populism and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Richard Jensen, in a 1971 study of Midwestern politics and culture, devoted two pages to Baum's story. He implicitly qualified Littlefield by pointing out that not all pro-Bryan silverites were Populists. But Jensen then proceeded to add two new points to the standard Littlefield interpretation, finding analogies for Toto and Oz itself: Dorothy's faithful dog represented the teetotaling Prohibitionists, an important part of the silverite coalition, and anyone familiar with the silverites' slogan "16 to 1"--that is, the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver to one ounce of gold--would have instantly recognized "Oz" as the abbreviation for "ounce."(3)

A few years later, literary scholar Brian Attebery wrote that "it is too much to say . . . that The Wizard is a 'Parable on Populism,' but it does share many of the Populist concerns and biases." Like Jensen, Attebery cautioned against an uncritical acceptance of Littlefield; and again like Jensen, he went on to suggest an analogy of his own: "Dorothy, bold, resourceful, leading the men around her toward success, is a juvenile Mary Lease, the Kansas firebrand who told her neighbors to raise less corn and more hell."(4)

The most extensive treatment of the Littlefield thesis is an article by Hugh Rockoff in the Journal of Political Economy. Rockoff, who saw in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz "a sophisticated commentary on the political and economic debates of the Populist Era," discovered a surprising number of new analogies. The Deadly Poppy Field, where the Cowardly Lion fell asleep and could not move forward, was the anti-imperialism that threatened to make Bryan forget the main issue of silver (note the Oriental connotation of poppies and opium). Once in the Emerald Palace, Dorothy had to pass through seven halls and climb three flights of stairs; seven and three make seventy-three, which stands for the Crime of '73, the congressional act that eliminated the coinage of silver and that proved to all Populists the collusion between congress and bankers. The Wicked Witch of the East was Grover Cleveland; of the West, William McKinley. The enslavement of the yellow Winkies was "a not very well disguised reference to McKinley's decision to deny immediate independence to the Philippines" after the Spanish-American War. The Wizard himself was Mark Hanna, McKinley's campaign manager, although Rockoff noted that "this is one of the few points at which the allegory does not work straightforwardly." About half of Rockoff's article consisted of an economic analysis that justified Bryan and Baum's silver stance.(5)

In a recent history of the Populist movement, Gene Clanton wrote that while The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was "a classic parable on the silver crusade," Littlefield had gotten some of it confused. Clanton explained (as had Jensen) that not all pro-Bryan silverites were Populists. A number of reform Democrats shared the Populists' distrust of railroads and bankers,their support for inflation, and so forth, but the Democrats disagreed with the Populists' call for a strong and active government to solve those problems, and in fact they tended to see Populists as dangerous socialist radicals. Clanton suggested that if the Wicked Witch of the East was the forces of industrial capitalism, then Baum's Wicked Witch of the West was Populism itself. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz "mirrored perfectly the middle-ground ideology that was fundamental among those who favored reform yet opposed Populism," wrote Clanton. "Baum's story was an apt metaphor or parable of Progressivism, not Populism." This was hardly the death knell for Littlefield; he had simply confused pro-Bryan, silverite Democrats for pro-Bryan, silverite Populists.(6)

As scholars continued to extend and modify Littlefield's interpretation, laymen discovered it as well. Perhaps the best example was a widely-reprinted essay, first published in the Los Angeles Times in 1988, in which Michael A. Genovese described The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as "the story of the sad collapse of Populism and the issues upon which the movement was based." Genovese's brief analysis was pure Littlefield. But there was one notable (and somewhat disturbing) aspect of Genovese's piece: Littlefield's name was never mentioned. The phrase "according to one scholar" never appeared. Less than a quarter century after his article appeared, Littlefield had entered the public domain.(7)

Several factors help explain Littlefield's popularity. First, he produced an overwhelming number of correspondences, and others have added to the list. One would be hard pressed to find any character, setting, or event in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that does not have a "Populist parable" analogy.

Second, educators discovered Littlefield's usefulness in teaching Populism and related topics. (This was the reason Littlefield, at the time a high school teacher, developed his analysis in the first place; the correspondences between Populism and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he wrote, "furnish a teaching mechanism which is guaranteed to reach any level of student.")(8) The journal Social Education suggested using The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to help secondary school students understand the issues behind Populism, and I myself proposed the Littlefield thesis as a possible lecture topic in an instructor's manual for a popular college-level textbook.(9) Another textbook contained a two-page "special feature" essay explaining The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a Populist allegory (although once again Littlefield's name was not mentioned).(10)

Third, many people in post-Watergate, post-Vietnam America were fascinated to learn that their favorite children's story was something of a subversive document, an anti-establishment fairy tale. Hence in 1988 the Utne Reader praised a newspaper article for "expos[ing] Oz as a parable on Populism," a movement that had been critical of "Eastern banks and railroads, which [Populists] charged with oppressing farmers and industrial workers."(11)

By the 1980s, Littlefield's interpretation had become the standard line on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.(12) Recently, however, one of his basic assertions--that the book was, like the Populist movement itself, a critique of American industrial capitalism--has been challenged by scholars who argue that the book actually celebrated the urban consumer culture of the turn of the century.

The best statement of this revisionist view is William R. Leach's two essays in a new edition of the book. Baum's masterpiece was popular, Leach explained, "because it met--almost perfectly--the particular ethical and emotional needs of people living in a new urban, industrial society." Leach pointed out that the book exalted the opulence and magic of the metropolis. The Emerald City, with its prosperous homes and luxurious stores, resembled nothing as much as it did the "White City" of Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893, which Baum had visited several times. Furthermore, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz reflected Baum's belief in theosophy, a spiritualist/occultist quasi-religious movement that was popular in the late nineteenth century. Specifically, the book emphasized an aspect of theosophy that Norman Vincent Peale would later call "the power of positive thinking": theosophy led to "a new upbeat and positive psychology" that "opposed all kinds of negative thinking--especially fear, worry, and anxiety." It was through this positive thinking, and not through any magic of the Wizard, that Dorothy and her companions (as well as everyone else in Oz) got what they wanted. "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was an optimistic secular theraputic text," wrote Leach. "It helped make people feel at home in America's new industrial economy, and it helped them appreciate and enjoy, without guilt, the new consumer abundance and way of living produced by that economy." Leach concluded that "the book both reflected and helped create a new cultural consciousness--a new way of seeing and being in harmony with the new industrial order."(13)

Leach's new look at Baum directly challenged much of what Littlefield wrote.(14) Furthermore, it was consistent with Baum's background. Before he became a professional writer, Baum worked as a traveling salesman and owned a dry goods store. In 1897, he founded The Show Window, the first journal ever devoted to decorating store windows, and in 1900 (the same year as The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), he published The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors, the first book on the subject. Furthermore, Baum's involvement in the theater, as everything from actor to producer and writer, taught him to appreciate the artistic lifestyle that only the big cities could offer.

Leach's essays did not necessarily overturn Littlefield, however. Baum might have been "a shopkeeper, a traveling salesman, an actor, a playwright, a windowdresser,"(15) but he was also a reform-minded Democrat who supported Bryan's pro-silver campaign in 1896. Given this, Littlefield's thesis still seems plausible.

For years after Baum's death in 1919, the best biography of him was a twenty-five-page sketch written by Martin Gardner for a new edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1957. Gardner wrote just two sentences on Baum's politics: "Aside from marching in a few torchlight parades for William Jennings Bryan, Baum was as inactive in politics as in church affairs [which is to say, pretty inactive]. He consistently voted as a democrat [sic], however, and his sympathies always seem to have been on the side of the laboring classes." Four years later, the first book-length study of Baum appeared. Written by Frank Joslyn Baum (Baum's son, who died during the project) and Russell P. MacFall, the biography did not go beyond Gardner in discussing Baum's politics.(16)

Baum's political affiliation was a big part of Littlefield's argument for seeing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a Populist allegory. Citing Gardner, Littlefield mentioned Baum's support for Democratic candidates and, of course, the torchlight parades for Bryan. "No one who marched in even a few such parades could have been unaffected by Bryan's campaign," Littlefield asserted.(17) If one begins with the assumption that Baum was a Bryan Democrat, it is easy to read a Populist (or at least a pro-silver) message into the book.

But was Baum a Bryan Democrat? In the summer of 1888, Baum moved his family to Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he opened a dry goods store. In January 1890, after the business failed, he bought a local newspaper, renaming it the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer. The Pioneer was obviously a Republican paper. During the municipal elections that spring, Baum editorialized in support of the Republican candidates; after they won, he wrote that "Aberdeen has redeemed herself . . . [a]fter suffering for nearly a year from the incompetence of a democratic administration." Later that year, Baum urged unity against the growing Independent movement: "We are all members of one great family, the family which saved the Union, the family which stands together as the emblem of prosperity among the nations--Republicanism!" Not only did Baum speak for the Republican party; he spoke against the movement that would soon evolve into the Populists.(18)

It must be admitted that the Pioneer had been a Republican paper before Baum bought it, and perhaps he had to maintain its partisan identification in order to maintain its circulation. Furthermore, Baum's Pioneer, while clearly Republican, was quite progressive: he wrote in support of women's suffrage, alternative religions, occultism, toleration, and so on. So perhaps Baum was a closet Democrat in Aberdeen, forced to hide his true political feelings.

But that appears not to be the case. In the summer of 1896, the year of the election that would mark what has been called "The Climax of Populism," Baum published a poem in a Chicago newspaper:

Hardly the writings of a silverite! Michael Patrick Hearn, the leading scholar on L. Frank Baum, quoted this poem in a recent letter to the New York Times. Hearn wrote that he had found "no evidence that Baum's story is in any way a Populist allegory"; Littlefield's argument, Hearn concluded, "has no basis in fact." A month later, Henry M. Littlefield responded to Hearn's letter, agreeing that "there is no basis in fact to consider Baum a supporter of turn-of-the-century Populist ideology."(19)

Thomas A. Bailey once suggested that we set up a computer network to keep track of misinformation that has been corrected--sort of a national clearinghouse for discredited myths. Is it time to move Littlefield to the computer trashpile of misinformation? Given the mounting evidence against it--given that Littlefield himself has admitted that it has "no basis in fact"--should we forget the whole notion of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a parable on Populism? That would be a big mistake. Perhaps we can no longer say that Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz "as an allegory of the silver movement," but we can still read it as an allegory of the silver movement--or, as Henry Littlefield noted just two years ago, "we can bring our own symbolism to it." Recent scholarship might have taken away Baum's intent, but the images are still there, vivid as ever.(20)

And because the images are still there, the Littlefield interpretation (especially as modified by Clanton, Rockoff, and others) remains a useful pedagogical device. Baum gave us a delightful and unforgettable way of illustrating a number of Gilded Age issues, from Populism and the silver movement to the Gilded Age presidency, from the problems of labor to the insurrection in the Philippines.

Thirty years ago, Henry M. Littlefield looked at The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and saw things no one had seen there before. More recently, William R. Leach has shown us another new way of looking at the book, a way that emphasizes a different side of the Gilded Age--the fascination with the city and urban abundance, the rise of a new industrial ethic, and so on. Leach's argument is just as compelling as Littlefield's. "Factual" or not, both are impressive achievements.

But even more impressive is the achievement of L. Frank Baum himself. In the preface to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum stated that he wanted to write a new sort of children's story: a modernized, American story, shorn of all the Old World images and motifs. He was tremendously successful in this, producing not only the first real American fairy tale, but one that showed American society and culture in all its wonderful diversity and contradictions, a story so rich it can be, like the book's title character, anything we want it to be--including, if we wish, a parable on Populism.(21)

 NOTES

1. Henry M. Littlefield, "The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism," American Quarterly 16 (1964): 47-58 (quotation on 54); L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Chicago, 1900).

2. Littlefield, "Parable on Populism," 50, 58.

3. Richard Jensen, The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896 (Chicago, 1971), 282-83.

4. Brian Attebery, The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin (Bloomington, 1980), 86-87.

5. Hugh Rockoff, "The 'Wizard of Oz' as a Monetary Allegory," Journal of Political Economy 98 (1990): 739, 751.

6. Gene Clanton, Populism: The Humane Preference in America, 1890-1900 (Boston, 1991), 149-50. Fred Erisman, "L. Frank Baum and the Progressive Dilemma," American Quarterly 20 (1968): 616-23, made a similar point, but outside the context of Littlefield's analogies.

7. Los Angeles Times, 19 March 1988.

8. Littlefield, "Parable on Populism," 58. For a brief discussion of how he came to write the essay, see Henry M. Littlefield, "The Wizard of Allegory," Baum Bugle 36 (Spring 1992):24-25. The Baum Bugle is published by the International Wizard of Oz Club.

9. David W. Van Cleaf and Charles W. Funkhouser, "Inquiry, 'Oz,' and Populism," Social Education 51 (1987): 282-83; Thomas S. Morgan and David B. Parker, Instructor's Manual and Test Bank to Accompany America: A Narrative History, Second Edition, by George B. Tindall (New York, 1988), 213.

10. Robert A. Divine et al., America: Past and Present (Glenview, Ill., 1984), 594-95. The essay was retained in later editions of the textbook; the third edition was published in 1991. For other examples of educators and the Littlefield thesis, see Michael Gessel, "Tale of a Parable," Baum Bugle 36 (Spring 1992): 19-23.

11. Michael Dregni, "The Politics of Oz," Utne Reader 28 (July/August 1988): 32-33. The newspaper cited was In These Times, 18 Feb. 1987.

12. There have been other interpretations of the book--scholars have read it from psychoanalytical, feminist, theological/philosophical, mythological, and Marxist perspectives, among others----but Littlefield's was easily the best known and most widely accepted of the bunch.

13. William R. Leach, "The Clown from Syracuse: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum," in L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Belmont, Calif., 1991), 2; Leach, "A Trickster's Tale: L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," in ibid., 168, 174. Stuart Culver discussed Baum's book as a reflection of the advertising that accompanied the consumer culture. Culver, "What Manikins Want: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows," Representations 21 (1988): 97-116.

14. One could try to reconcile the differences by suggesting that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was not so much about the Populists themselves as it was about the culture that gave rise to the Populists. Midwestern farmers were well aware of the consumer paradise Leach described (through the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog, for example); perhaps their inablity to partake more fully in that paradise was one of the reasons for the agrarian discontent that led to the Populists. But this oversimplifies Littlefield's argument, which was about silver and gold, William Jennings Bryan and dehumanized factory workers, not just "agrarian discontent." I appreciate Robert C. McMath, Jr.'s and James Cassidy's helpful comments on this point.

15. Leach, "Clown from Syracuse," 3.

16. Martin Gardner, "The Royal Historian of Oz," in Gardner and Russel B. Nye, The Wizard of Oz and Who He Was (East Lansing, Mich., 1957), 29; Frank Joslyn Baum and Russell P. MacFall, To Please a Child: A Biography of L. Frank Baum, Royal Historian of Oz (Chicago, 1961), 85, 124. ("The Royal Historian of Oz" is a title L. Frank Baum himself had used.) Michael Patrick Hearn is preparing a new biography of Baum; for now, the most reliable source of information is Hearn, ed., The Annotated Wizard of Oz (New York, 1973).

17. Littlefield, "Parable on Populism," 49.

18. Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer, 12 April 1890, 19 April 1890, 18 Oct. 1890. For more on Baum's editorship and political affiliation, see Nancy Tystad Koupal, "The Wonderful Wizard of the West: L. Frank Baum in South Dakota, 1888-91," Great Plains Quarterly 9 (1989): 207-8.

19. Robert F. Durden, The Climax of Populism: The Election of 1896 (Lexington, 1965); Chicago Times Herald, 12 July 1896, quoted in New York Times, 20 Dec. 1991; New York Times, 7 Feb. 1992.

20. Thomas A. Bailey, "The Mythmakers of American History," Journal of American History 55 (1968): 18; Divine et al., America, 594; Littlefield, "The Wizard of Allegory," 25.

21. When describing characters and settings that readers have never encountered before, writers (and especially writers of fantasy) might naturally use familiar imagery to help the reader along. This could explain why The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is richer and more vivid than Baum's later books in the series (he wrote 13 others, from The Marvelous Land of Oz to Glinda of Oz): after that original volume, the characters and settings were no longer unknown--from the second book on, readers had encountered them before--and so Baum had less reason to use American images as the basis for his descriptions. And as good as some of those later books are, an Ozian Oz(described on its own terms) was nowhere near as fascinating as an American Oz.

Under discussion:

Epic Movie  (2007)

"Epic Movie" After watching this movie I wanted to kill myself, at least twice. At the end decided to go for a drink instead.

from: twitter.com/turkeyornot

Under discussion:

Sunset Boulevard  (1950)

Any Given Sunday  (1999)

As you must know by now, I'm an emphatic supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton. And despite what the mainstream media is saying right now, I still believe that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic Party's nominee and our next president.

With that said, I can still appreciate good YouTube videos, even those that poke fun of my girl.

Like this one from v-blogger LisaNova, described as "a biting parody of Sunset Blvd starring Hillary Clinton as the faded film star. In her fantasy world, the stairs in Hillary’s home become the stairs in the White House, and an amateur interviewer becomes Anderson Cooper. It’s worth watching for LisaNova’s over-the-top, hammy acting alone."

Hillary's Sunset Blvd:


The Original Ending Scene:



Oh, yeah, and I have a list of films featuring Hillary Clinton here.

And for Hillaryfans out there who are feeling discouraged, this one goes out to you. Just remember-- nothing comes easy:

Originally posted on:Cerebral Politics

I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to cover last night's rally, but once I arrived I figured I should do what I do best--Twitter.

It was a mixture of live-reporting, attempts at wit/humor, and analysis.

I'm just going to copy & past the full stream-of-consciousness tweet-fest, please excuse the spelling error.s 

Apparently, the line for the Obama event is already forming in downtown... 02:35 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl 

Retweeting @Spout: For a limited time only: 50% off all DVDs on Spout! Get 'em while they're hot. http://www.spout.com/store/ 02:48 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl    

Have to leave here at 4:30pm to get credentials for an event that doesn't start until 7:00pm. Stuuupid. 03:19 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl

@tonytagliavia i'll be there in about an hour! 03:41 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl in reply to tonytagliavia    

Heading over to VanAndel to check in and get my wristband... 04:25 PM May 14, 2008 from twhirl  

At this point, I was heading down Ottawa from my workplace to the Van Andel Arena...

Young obama folk out in full force. 04:42 PM May 14, 2008 from txt

There was no doubt that the crowd was predominantly younger, and this is something that I sensed immediately.

Lots of people inside. Screen displays text MI to an obama-specific shortcode to sign up. 04:49 PM May 14, 2008 from txt      

 This was a smart move on the Obama campaign's part.

And the music playing is natasha benningfield's "unwritten." Reference to the blank canvas theory of der spiegel? 04:55 PM May 14, 2008 from txt

 In case you weren't aware, "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield is a song about new beginnings, self-empowerment, etc. but the lyrics also include this:

I am unwritten,
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined...

When I heard these lyrics, my mind immediately jumped back to the Der Spiegel article which, among other things, said this:

Last night the Iowans didn't vote for a president -- they voted for a symbol to represent their unhappiness with the current state of America. Obama, like Republican winner Mike Huckabee, is like a blank sheet of paper on which they could project their disaffection.

 But back to my tweets..

Guy wearing "Wright was Right" shirt is talking to the press. This could be good or bad.   04:57 PM May 14, 2008  from txt

I should have brought a videocamera. 04:58 PM May 14, 2008 from txt

Dan Truel of the Saint is here. 05:05 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Stoner-looking guy just leant me a cigarette lighter. 05:09 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Breaking: edwards to endorse obama 05:25 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Obama in the house 05:27 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

6:15 P.M. TONIGHT: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO HOLD PRESS CONF ON HILLARY'S STRONG PRO-CHOICE RECORD. 05:44 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Hearing that edwards will appear with him tonight. 05:45 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Pledge of allegiance. "Please rise and remove your caps." 05:48 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Field team member speaking "let me tell you - it is good to be here in Grand Rapids." 05:50 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Playing the "yes we can" video... The stands are full but the ground floor still has a lot of room. 05:54 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Really, really, really bad coffee. 06:01 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Haven't seen a single Latino person to interview just yet 06:01 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

@ndraper I totally should lol. Or "yes she will!". But I'm here as a blogger and to hear what he says about michigan's delegates. 06:03 PM May 14, 2008 from web in reply to ndraper    

@caro_k happens at all the rallies. Now they're starting the wave. 06:06 PM May 14, 2008 from txt in reply to caro_k    

Handing out obama signs into the crowd now. @caro_k was woman who passed out near you? 06:08 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

Consensus from the three old ladies I've spoken to is that Michigan should be seated. 06:08 PM May 14, 2008 from txt    

"I want my voice heard at the convention, but I sure as hell didn't vote for Hillary Clinton."   06:10 PM May 14, 2008  from txt       

Someone wearing a "she can do it" NOT shirt 06:14 PM May 14, 2008 from txt 

This is obviously an attempt to show that working-class whites support Obama, which we knew.. 06:37 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

"[Obama] helped provide job training for jobless after the steel plants closed." 06:38 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

Guy now talking about layoffs at his plant. Barack Obama can change that. Yes he can! about 23 hours ago from txt

Clinton advance much nicer than Obama's people, in my opinion. Both as pushy. about 23 hours ago from txt

Obama "I felt bad about not campaigning, and so as a consequence, I decided that I would try to give you something special.". Edwards? about 23 hours ago from txt

I think it was this last line that made me angry, and I'm not sure why.  Maybe because its pandering, but I tend to dislike the small lies that everyone knows are lies.  First of all, by all accounts, the Edwards endorsement was not "planned," and had Edwards called Obama tomorrow when he's campaigning in Oregon, Obama would have said the same line in Eugene.  If he had just apologized for not campaigning here, instead of trying to offer up an obviously fake conciliation prize, I probably would feel a lot better.  But that's the kind of guy Obama is.  The other example is the "sweetie" comment he made to a female reporter in Detroit.  Instead of just apologizing for using a misogynistic term to describe a professional woman that simultaneously devalues her and turns her into an object (even thought that's not the way he intended it, by any means), he said it was "bad habit" and then said that his press team will attempt to make it up to her the next time he's in Detroit.  Moreover, and regardless of what people here want to believe, the Obama campaign's decision to hold the event in Grand Rapids was probably largely influenced by the fact that he had a PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED high-dollar fundraiser here.  Knowing a little bit about how presidential campaign fundraising schedules work, these events are scheduled and planned (thought not published in the public schedule) several weeks in advance.

Edwards comes out and standing next to Obama one can only think "vice president" ? Where's elizabeth? about 23 hours ago from txt

The seats are filled but still over half the floor is empty. Should have gone to Devos hall about 23 hours ago from txt 

I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it, but there was a lot of empty room (over half) on the floor of the arena.  The stands were packed, but could have fit a lot more people on the floor (which is usually the case, because Secret Service shuts down the front doors as soon as the candidate is in the building and creates a safe zone). 

Cut to Edwards: 

Does this mean edwards no longer thinks of Obama as arrogant?   about 23 hours ago  from txt   

 I seriously still want an answer to this.. because I remembered this article in NY Mag:

But now two months have passed since Edwards dropped out—tempus fugit!—and still no endorsement. Why? According to a Democratic strategist unaligned with any campaign but with knowledge of the situation gleaned from all three camps, the answer is simple: Obama blew it. Speaking to Edwards on the day he exited the race, Obama came across as glib and aloof.

But back to Obama walking out w/ Edwards: 

The show is actually starting early. Hard to believe. about 23 hours ago from txt

Obama: "I am fired up! Fired up! Fired up to be in Michigan. Fired up to be in grand Rapids." about 23 hours ago from txt

The press is now mixed with the young children of high-dollar obama donors. Interesting mix. about 23 hours ago from txt

Booing at mention of Hillary Clinton. Classy. about 23 hours ago from txt 

Edwards: Barack obama stands with me in the fight against poverty. about 23 hours ago from txt

Edwards: hillary believes with every fiber of her being that americ needs change. about 23 hours ago from txt 

"[Hillary] has shown strength, and character, and what drives her is something that every single one of us can and should appreciate." 06:46 PM May 14, 2008 from im

"She cares very deeply about the working people and their families..." 06:46 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

"This tenacity has shown her strength and determination. She is a woman who, in my judgement, is made of steel." 06:47 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

"She is a leader in this country, not because of her husband, but because of what she has done, because of her standing up." 06:48 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

 Edwards: "[The nomination battle] will be over soon." Wishful thinking?  06:49 PM May 14, 2008 from im

"we are a stronger party because Hillary Clinton is a Democrat." 06:51 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

"One America where no child--no child--goes to bed hungry." 06:56 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

Copying images to my computer... but can't upload because poor net connection (IM barely works) 06:56 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

Backside of Wright guy's shirt says "Will My Vote Count?" 06:57 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

Obama leans now to hug Edwards... "Give it up for John Edwards" 07:00 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

Obama: "I haven't been seeing John as much, so I forgot how good he is." 07:00 PM May 14, 2008 from im

 Do you think Obama thought Edwards was a good speaker when he was attacking him for taking money from "special interests" (also known as unions, nurses, teachers)? 

Obama gives a shout out to Elizabeth Edwards... but where is she?? 07:01 PM May 14, 2008 from im     

Still haven't gotten an answer.  Now Obama goes into his stump.

Obama: "We can start by ending the tax breaks we give to companies that ship jobs overseas."   07:07 PM May 14, 2008  from im 

it's probably my bias, but I've heard this speech before (Iowa, Iowa, California, Ohio, Indiana), and I'm hungry. 07:09 PM May 14, 2008 from im 

Obama just threw his bottle of water into the crowd. 07:09 PM May 14, 2008 from im    

Someone passed out, he literally tossed his water bottle. "Does somebody want to catch this?" I think someone caught it. 07:09 PM May 14, 2008 from im  

EMTs are now being dispatched. He's picked right back up where he left off. 07:09 PM May 14, 2008 from im  

I won't lie.. it was kind of cool that he just tossed the bottle of water.  But I thought it was strange that he jumped straight back into his speech.  The last fainting incident I remember was in Toledo, OH and Sen. Clinton waited until the EMTs had cleared the woman from the crowd before continuing.

Obama: "John Edwards and I both got into this race because we believe in America where it's always possible to change the way things are." 07:10 PM May 14, 2008 from im

Strange I seem to remember the Obama campaign saying that the Edwards was just "talking the talk" and that the "the easiest thing in the world is to talk about change during election time."

Corporations love "the wall." I'm starting to get confused.. He's talking construction and I don't know construction. about 23 hours ago from txt

Obama staffer is nodding his head to obama's speech, looks like he's seen the face of god. about 23 hours ago from txt

Obama is shifting from attacking Hillary, now including her in the "believes in a different America" line. about 23 hours ago from txt    

There's a girl here with the largest camera I've ever seen in my life. about 23 hours ago from txt     

"The campaign isn't about me, it isn't about John, or Hillary, or - uh - McCain.." about 23 hours ago from txt

He stumbles over his words without a teleprompter. Proves he's human. Builds character? about 23 hours ago from txt    

The server cook guy from yesterdog is here. Lol. about 23 hours ago from txt

Obama shout out to Marion, IN. Hillary carried Marion, if I remember correctly (Beth - correct me if I'm wrong, it was your turf.) about 23 hours ago from txt  

"This type of change has never started in the halls of Washington. It starts in the streets. Not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up ... ... 07:11 PM May 14, 2008 from im     

Obama: "The status quo resists. Because people are afraid. Because sometimes cynicism wins out." 07:20 PM May 14, 2008 from im

"If you're willing to join John Edwards and Barack Obama and -uh- Hillary Clinton, then I promise you we will change this country and we can change the world ... 07:21 PM May 14, 2008 from im

Just noticed the american flags behind Obama are back in full force. Can't see his lapel, though. about 23 hours ago from txt    
23 hours ago from txt  

Clinton's schedule: Thursday in South Dakota, Friday she's in Oregon. 07:21 PM May 14, 2008 from im

"Signed, Sealed, Delivered" starts playing... harkens back to Iowa 07:22 PM May 14, 2008 from im

Breaking: from Terry McAuliffe "We respect John Edwards, but as the voters of West Virginia showed last night, this thing is far from over." about 23 hours ago from txt

 As I suspected, he made no mention of seating Michigan's delegates. Not one. But did make an appeal for the general.   about 23 hours ago  from txt       

Still rushing the stage. Lots of young people here. Now realizing how many. Massive amount about 22 hours ago from txt

This girl is going crazy about having shook obama's hand. I hope I'm not like that about Hillary. about 22 hours ago from txt

The music here has a lot of a lot of bass. about 22 hours ago from txt

"I just wanted a souvernier" someone from channel 13 on why she's carrying an Obama sign. about 22 hours ago from txt

The press just swoons over Obama. about 22 hours ago from txt

All high-dollar donors waiting for their signed books and such. about 22 hours ago from txt

Finally got my chance to meet sunlen miller of abc news about 22 hours ago from txt

Standing next to a kid from calvin who is studying for his final exams tomorrow. about 22 hours ago from txt 

 And the tweet that defines the night for me.  Although its a simple take-away, it was all over the news last night.. and I tweeted it first (well, probably not really):

Endorsement shifts focus away from obama's trouncing in WV. Now he has to live up to increased expectations among workingclass whites in KY.   about 22 hours ago  from txt

Under discussion:

Old Joy  (2005)

The Third Wave  (2007)

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired  (2008)

La Mujer Sin Cabeza (The Headless Woman)  (2008)

I was surprised to see this reported over at Women & Hollywood: "[at Cannes] only 1.5 films out of 19 are directed by women."

They include: La Mujer Sin Cabeza directed by Argentine Lucrecia Martel and Linha de Passe which is co-directed by Daniela Thomas and Walter Salles.

Un Certain Regard is a bit better with 2.5 out of 19. Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir's film debut Milh Hadha Al-Bahr (Salt of the Sea) is in the lineup along with and Kelly Reichardt, (Old Joy) with Wendy and Lucy starring Michelle Williams. Joana Hadjithomas co-directed Jeveux Voir with Khali Joreige.

Other women directed films include: Jennifer Lynch's Surveillance; Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired and Alison Thompson's The Third Wave.

Under discussion:

Iron Man  (2008)

For those of you who can't seem to get enough of "Iron Man," slashfilm has 23 new high-quality stills from the film for your consumption.

Enjoy.