{"id":16910,"date":"2021-11-03T00:30:15","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T00:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=16910"},"modified":"2021-11-02T19:51:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T19:51:18","slug":"right-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/03\/right-on\/","title":{"rendered":"RIGHT ON"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY JOELLEN COLLINS<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
JoEllen Collins\u2014a longtime resident of the Wood River Valley\u2014is a teacher, writer, fabric artist, choir member and unabashedly proud grandma known as \u201cBibi Jo.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I can\u2019t break the habit of subscribing to The New Yorker, even though every time I finish an issue I feel a great sense of accomplishment. Too many recent dog-eared copies are accumulating on my bedroom nightstand where I save articles and stories (poems are read quickly and some saved for my poetry file). I know I want to read every word but usually run out of time to do so. I came across dozens of torn-out features from a couple of years ago in a file entitled \u201cGood Reads\u201d when I was \u201ccleaning out\u201d\u2014hah\u2014my closet and still put them away for another day. As someone who loves good writing, I think I will always keep my subscription up. However, I have another reason: two of my leaders in non-fiction at the Breadloaf Writers Conference several years ago were Susan Orleans and Alex Wilkinson, both wonderful mentors and examples of gifted writers I hope never to miss reading in a weekly copy I might never buy.<\/p>\n

Just yesterday I received my current edition of The New Yorker and added another reason I so love the magazine\u2026 the cartoons. I usually open my copy at the back page (now occupied by a crossword puzzle I swear I will start later) and then the next page with this week\u2019s cartoon and caption contest.<\/p>\n

However, it took me awhile to start my usual routine with the bulk of the rest of the pieces because I was haunted by the cover created by the super-nova artist Barry Bliet. One\u2019s admiration for his work may depend on one\u2019s political leanings, but his cartoon could apply to those preferring either the left or right\u00a0and is open to interpretation.\u00a0It displays an image of a small boat holding people who are fighting with each other to go to opposite shores. Here is George Washington on the Potomac, besieged by men grabbing his leg and scarf, one struggling to hold the American flag in place, all men in a melee of violence, even hitting with an oar a child holding on to the craft. The only woman on the boat is rowing forcefully but not clearly aiming in any direction:\u00a0her oar is poking a man. Several clumps of ice surround the rather flimsy boat. I laugh ruefully at the knowledge that this is a picture of our current and perilous civic voyage.<\/p>\n

Martin Luther King said, \u201cWe\u00a0may have all come on different ships, but we\u2019re in the same boat now.\u201d Yes, that adage still applies, but Bliet\u2019s depiction reminds us\u00a0of the conflict\u00a0in what\u00a0we may have believed to be our strong ship of state. This boat is still afloat despite the turmoil on it, but we don\u2019t know if and where it will land.\u00a0I would hope that maybe a quote by\u00a0James Taylor\u00a0may be truer than the discord portrayed\u00a0here.\u00a0He said,\u00a0\u201cBeing on a boat that\u2019s moving through the water, it\u2019s so clear. Everything falls into place in terms of what\u2019s important and what\u2019s not.\u201d\u00a0I hope so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY JOELLEN COLLINS I can\u2019t break the habit of subscribing to The New Yorker, even though every time I finish an issue I feel a great sense of accomplishment. Too many recent dog-eared copies are accumulating on my bedroom nightstand where I save articles and stories (poems are read quickly and some saved for my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-on-lifes-terms"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16912,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16910\/revisions\/16912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}