Re: [L-I] The Good Lenin and the Good Buttermilk and Me

Dear Hunter Gray,

Thank you for your wonderful piece on Lenin and things.  I am quite amazed
every time I read something from Lenin.  His books and works speaks volumes,
and I have yet to grasp the bulk of his thought.  But I am still learning
and the more I understand what I am learning, the more coherent the world
seems to become, albeit its entaglements with its current predicaments and
events.

The sense of respect for Lenin as a human being is something I can relate to
in your work.  My respect for him has been growing for some time now.

Thank you for sharing. It was appreciated.

All the best,
Joshua


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hunter Gray" <[email protected]>
To: "Leninist International" <[email protected]>;
"Marxism Discussion" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 8:09 AM
Subject: [L-I] The Good Lenin and the Good Buttermilk and Me


> Comrades and Friends: [from Hunterbear]
>
> This just past Saturday, I sent around one of my first pieces of new
writing
> for several months -- "Lenin and Things:  Random Thoughts from a Guy who
Is
> Up at 2 am." Some days ago, my twisted hands had recovered sufficiently
that
> I've been able to write totally on my own with no verbatim dictation by
> faithful Maria, who continues to help mightily on other fronts.  So this
is
> a smooth flowing piece, linear in nature -- and written and communicated
in
> my old time way. It has drawn some very solid comments from a number of
Left
> folk -- including a veteran agitator at Tucson  [known him since '55] who
> called it "beautiful, very readable. I was calmer by the time I had
finished
> it, and it's a short piece."
>
> But to come to the point:  virtually no one on any of my lists made any
> comment about this piece -- nor did many individuals.  It was a day of
> technical glitches on my computer -- many folks missed but all OK now -- 
and
> that may well be part of the hassle. Who knows what all -- but here it is
> again and, if you haven't read it,and without feeling obligated to make
any
> comment , you might take a look.
>
> So I'm now sending it around -- with a new subject line: THE GOOD LENIN
AND
> THE GOOD BUTTERMILK AND ME. [But my original title  -- "Lenin and Things:
> Random Thoughts from a Guy who Is Up at 2 am" -- does stand.]  Hunterbear
> ---------------
> By Hunter Gray [Hunterbear]:
>
> Relaxation -- the really genuine stuff -- has always been a big, big
> challenge for me that makes the vast Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Area in my
> native Northern Arizona look like a suburban back yard.
>
> Like many out to Save the World in his or her lifetime, I keep moving just
> as fast and hard as I possibly can.  Always have since the baby crib.
>
> But, sometimes, one has to stop for a time -- and pull and smooth the
> physiological threads together.
>
> And then there's the even more massive, high priority matter of Thinking.
> The big chunk.
>
> Thinking I can certainly do -- but generally relax?
>
> Hardly.
>
> My once daily trips into the nearby hills and mountains immediately above
> our home are now over at this point.  The profoundly virulent disease
which
> has already twice almost killed me in recent weeks could hit lethally at
any
> point.  [I still cannot walk at all well.]
>
> So relaxation is now even more critical as I often look gloomily out of
our
> great picture window and the wonderful mountains not far beyond.
>
> I can sit in my recliner chair, look at Salt of the Earth or Shane or
Reds.
> [I don't like television.]
>
> But I do need much more than these fine, creative films.  I read very
> widely -- and I write -- virtually always serious non-fiction.  My
computer
> work can occasionally be relaxing, but, frankly, generally not.
>
> I don't drink alcohol.  That has seriously afflicted the family from
whence
> I come -- both my parents died of alcoholism -- and I've kept it out of my
> own present family. I never use tranquilizers. I don't smoke and have not
> for many years. Coffee -- strong, very strong -- is a great priority of
> mine, always in these early morning hours.
>
> But strong coffee isn't exactly a calmer.
>
> Now, one of the many things I happen to love is cold buttermilk:
> old-fashioned, heavy and thick. It's not unusual for me to go through a
> quart in ten minutes at any time of day.
>
> And THEN, I've now come to very much openly like -- in fact, admire in a
> strong and general sense -- Lenin.  That's right:  The Lenin.  V.I.
>
> This has been germinating, I suspect, for some years.
>
> Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my full-blooded Native
> father [an excellent artist with strong connections in Mexico] always
> approved of his colleague and friend -- the great Painter of another
> Revolution, Diego Rivera -- putting Lenin in several of his own very
> important Mexican murals and other works.
>
> Or, could it possibly have something to do with the fact that Lenin could
be
> a distant cousin from  another land?  In his DARKNESS AT NOON, Arthur
> Koestler specifically singles out "the old man with the slanting Tartar
> eyes, the leader of yore, who had died in time."
>
> Who knows?  Mongol-type eyes are no strangers in our local setting.
>
> And, ever the quasi-anarcho  [ mostly decentralist] syndicalist, I
certainly
> don't classify myself as a classic "Leninist" -- at least in the sense
the
> term is frequently used in  high church circles.  I have  never attempted
to
> define Lenin with any precision.
>
> The other day, the family honeymoon regarding my very recent return from
our
> local mountain hospital slipped substantially. In fact, some or many
progeny
> were  making the house sound like a copper ore mill.
>
> And our several cats, led by my faithful half-bobcat, Cloudy, were raising
> pure hell.  [Unspayed, she really needs a man.]
>
> I laid back in my chair, thinking of far away Forest Service lookouts --
> which could accommodate just one person.
>
> Still, it's a really great and consistently supportive family:  every
single
> entity.
>
> But I needed something half-way calming -- and fast.
>
> "Fetch me some buttermilk," I said to an offspring.  I was immediately
> provided with a huge goblet of the Special Drink:  my favorite kind from
> Weber [Weeber], Utah, just south of the Idaho border.  It's always super
> thick and has literally gobs of semi-butter.
>
> But I needed more.  Maybe a good book.
>
> It chanced that a friend had very recently sent me several splendid books.
> Some, in fact, involve Lenin.  One is a two volume set:  A book on WORLD
> WRITERS AND ARTISTS ON LENIN.  The very fine companion volume -- LENIN IN
> PROFILE --includes almost 90 excellent photos that can be individually
> detached. [Moscow:  Progress Publishers, 1975.]
>
> The other is VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN: AN ALBUM OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND STILLS
> [Moscow, Planeta Publishing, 1983.]
>
> And they were quickly provided.
>
> And then, as I sipped the buttermilk and looked at the myriad of great
Lenin
> life-time photos -- and those of his always wonderful spouse, Krupskaya,
of
> whom my own faithful Eldri much reminds me -- and  those of their cats -- 
I
> realized I was calming:  fast, substantially, deeply.
>
> I won't try at all to define any of this.  "You can never paint much of
the
> really huge geography of our American West," my father always said.
>
> Ideologists can do their thing with Lenin -- but, for me, I simply like
and
> highly respect the man and his family. He was a very, very human person
who,
> with others, glimpsed and went toward  something as bright and beautiful
as
> the warmly sun-lit Grand Canyon shining through the fading rains of early
> morning Northern Arizona.
>
>
>
> Hunter Gray  [Hunterbear] Micmac /St Francis Abenaki /St Regis Mohawk
> [in the mountains of southeastern Idaho]
> www.hunterbear.org
> Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
> and Ohkwari'
>
>
> In our Gray Hole, the ghosts often dance in the junipers and sage, on the
> game trails, in the tributary canyons with the thick red maples, and on
the
> high windy ridges -- and they dance from within the very essence of our
own
> inner being. They do this especially when the bright night moon shines
down
> on the clean white snow that covers the valley and its surroundings.  Then
> it is as bright as day -- but in an always soft and mysterious and
> remembering way. [Hunterbear]
>
>
>
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