{"id":18621,"date":"2022-09-07T00:49:27","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T00:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=18621"},"modified":"2022-09-06T20:52:06","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T20:52:06","slug":"come-to-papa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/09\/07\/come-to-papa\/","title":{"rendered":"Come To Papa"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ken Stokes<\/em><\/p>\n

I<\/span>t\u2019s back! September, that is. For time immemorial, the ninth month of the calendar year was also the start of a new academic year. Although the calendar year is 2022 anno Domini, today\u2019s academics might be better described as 2 anno Covid. <\/span><\/p>\n

While in-class learning has resumed for the most part, many aspects of education are not remotely back to the pre-pandemic paradigm, and let\u2019s not forget that the state of education pre-pandemic was hardly rosy. A nationwide teacher shortage, denigration of teachers, censorship, soaring education costs, inadequate funding, bureaucracy, antiquated facilities, the trend to devalue in-person instruction (the list goes on) are daunting challenges. Yet, arguably, the single greatest threat facing education in America today is the enthusiastic embrace of anti-intellectualism by a sizable and very vocal segment of the American population. <\/span><\/p>\n

The word \u2018educate\u2019 is rooted in Latin and translates roughly as \u2018to lead out.\u2019 Out of the darkness and into enlightenment, a fact-based, never-ending process which expands knowledge, broadens horizons and forces a person to constantly evolve his or her view of the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

The whole point of education is to expose oneself to new experiences, environments, people and points of view to learn something one doesn\u2019t know, not to repeat the same information incessantly or reinforce one\u2019s beliefs. The opposite of education is not merely close-mindedness, it\u2019s willful ignorance. Born of fear, cultivated in grievance, empowered with condescension and lacking any anchor in facts or reality whatsoever, this New American Anti-Intellectualism is some really toxic shit. Knowledge truly is power. Ignorance might be bliss, but it\u2019s still ignorance. Any way you slice it, ignorance will limit one\u2019s options. And what you don\u2019t know can certainly hurt you. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Ketchum, in any given year, hundreds of kids attend a school named for bon vivant, adventurer and Nobel Prize-winning writer Ernest Hemingway\u2014a former short-term Wood River Valley resident (and permanent long-term occupant) whose life and work is the intersection of: <\/span><\/p>\n

The need to immerse oneself in the act of living on a global canvas, and <\/span><\/p>\n

The desire and skill\u2014genius, really\u2014to share that worldview first as a journalist and then through literature\u2014an art form that, at its best, creates a reading experience that transcends plot. <\/span><\/p>\n

No doubt the school\u2019s name was intended to be not merely a memorial but a beacon. The Hemingway narrative \u2013 the scope, color, innovation, achievements, influence \u2013 is extraordinarily seductive. It\u2019s the kind of story that could easily inspire an individual to plunge headfirst into life as a means of crafting his or her best self. It\u2019s also a very human story. Will it be easy? No. Will it be complicated? Certainly. Will it be unique? Authentic? True? One would hope so. After all, who would want to craft a life that was essentially a fiction? <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, so-called \u2018reality\u2019 television, in combination with a celebrity-obsessed culture, is who. And it\u2019s manufacturing a small army of influencers who at best possess absolutely no substance and demonstrate no real curiosity; at worst these influencers put the most repugnant of Hemingway\u2019s characters to shame.<\/span><\/p>\n

What Would Papa Write?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Hemingway is perhaps more relevant now than he was in his lifetime. The Nick Adams Stories<\/i> tackle the crushing effect of PTSD, Up in Michigan<\/i> is perhaps the first piece of literature to graphically portray date rape. Ban all the books you like, but realize a teenager who has read and processed Up in Michigan may be a bit less likely to unwittingly become the victim or perpetrator of toxic masculinity.<\/p>\n

Hemingway is generally misused by the education system. His novella The Old Man and the Sea<\/i> is wasted on teenagers and rarely read by those who need it most: middle-aged, middle-class people grappling to make sense of the seemingly arbitrary nature of life. The war novels, despite their revolutionary prose style, are wonderful, but arguably no greater than those of any number of literary luminaries (hard to beat the Russians in the war novel competition).<\/p>\n

For my money, Hemingway\u2019s most revelatory and relevant work is The Sun Also Rises<\/i>, a cautionary tale with a dazzling cast of characters headlined by a eunuch and a slut. It delves into the issues of entitlement, excess, pettiness, betrayal, manipulation, self-delusion and general vacuousness that are at the core of what is currently America\u2019s best-selling political brand.<\/p>\n

I strongly suggest that if you are going to reside in the Wood River Valley, you should school yourself in \u2018Papa.\u2019 PBS\u2019s American Experience profile of Hemingway (streaming and DVD) is a fascinating documentary that celebrates the man\u2019s genius and his very human foibles. Read his work. Revel in the art of literature. School yourself on a legend worthy of the title.<\/p>\n

And if self-appointed \u2018beacons of all truth\u2019 try to school you or fool you with fancy airs, slick talk, long legs and \u2018alternate facts,\u2019 feel free to tell them all to go educate themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ken Stokes It\u2019s back! September, that is. For time immemorial, the ninth month of the calendar year was also the start of a new academic year. Although the calendar year is 2022 anno Domini, today\u2019s academics might be better described as 2 anno Covid. While in-class learning has resumed for the most part, many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18622,"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],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18621","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=18621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18625,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18621\/revisions\/18625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}