{"id":10308,"date":"2008-11-23T19:29:44","date_gmt":"2008-11-24T00:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/?p=10308"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:15","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:15","slug":"more-frenchie-duci-morden-and-rapp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/11\/23\/more-frenchie-duci-morden-and-rapp\/","title":{"rendered":"more Frenchie, Duci, Morden and Rapp"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\"><em>. . . spending a chilly Sunday with some old acquaintances . . . <\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2008\/09\/8148_512_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"62\" height=\"81\" \/> <strong><em>Frenchie&#8217;s Family Sketches His Life<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0 A lot of people were touched and angered by the story of Wilford &#8220;Frenchie&#8221; Hamilton, the affable homeless artist who was beaten to death at age 61 by two or three juveniles on the streets of Pontiac, Michigan, back in August. See our <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/09\/08\/attacks-on-homeless-hit-home-in-pontiac\/\">prior post<\/a> and links.\u00a0 An interview with his sister-in-law Laura Hamilton provides more details to the story of Frenchie, in the article &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theoaklandpress.com\/articles\/2008\/11\/10\/news\/cops_and_courts\/doc49180348bae80251062524.txt\">Family: Man\u2019s death ends haunting past<\/a>&#8221; (<em>The Oakland Press<\/em>, November 10, 2008; <a href=\"http:\/\/images.townnews.com\/theoaklandpress.com\/content\/articles\/2008\/11\/10\/news\/cops_and_courts\/doc49180348bae80251062524.jpg\">click<\/a> to see his self-portrait with an inset photo).\u00a0 I&#8217;m glad to know more about the man &#8212; his closeness to two siblings, six-figure job in NYC,  cancelled marriage, battle with alcoholism,  love for painting and for a niece and nephew, and several family tragedies before his dreadful death.\u00a0 (hat tip to Ed Markowski)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We shouldn&#8217;t need a reminder, but we sometimes do, that street-people are full-dimensional human beings.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s another reminder: To start doing something about the increasing assault against the homeless, see the web page \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalhomeless.org\/civilrights\/hatecrimespolicysign-on.html\">Stop Hate-Motivated Violence Against Homeless People<\/a>\u201d from the Coalition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px;text-align: center\">christmas eve<br \/>\nhomeless men crouch<br \/>\nat the back of the manger<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px;text-align: center\">\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px;text-align: center\">\n<p style=\"padding-left: 90px;text-align: center\">\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 by <a href=\"..\/2008\/09\/08\/2008\/01\/17\/ed-markowski-archive-part-ii\/\">Ed Markowski<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><strong><em> <\/em><\/strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2008\/10\/duciwill_t500_b1-black_2-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"63\" height=\"91\" \/><strong><em> Frank Duci On His Feet Again<\/em><\/strong>: A lot of people have seen our post from October about the <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/10\/13\/a-melancholy-spoof-of-frank-ducis-will\/\">spoofing of Frank Duci&#8217;s will<\/a>.\u00a0 At the time, the 87-year-old former mayor of Schenectady was bed-ridden, suffering from lung cancer. His old journalistic antagonist, columnist Carl Strock visited Mayor Duci, and mischievously got him to sign a will on a shopping list that was very much like a real one Duci had witnessed on the deathbed of a friend, with Duci as the sole beneficiary. (see Strock&#8217;s account in  \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailygazette.com\/weblogs\/strock\/2008\/oct\/12\/ducis-will\/\">Duci\u2019s will<\/a>\u201d)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">.. <em>W<\/em>ell, I was pleasantly surprised to see a feature story in the Albany <em>Times Union<\/em>, describing Frank Duci&#8217;s return this week to a regular little coffee-klatsch at Burger King with a few of his old pals from the neighborhood.\u00a0 In &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/timesunion.com\/AspStories\/story.asp?storyID=741757&amp;category=YTSCHENECTADY&amp;BCCode=LOCAL&amp;newsdate=11\/20\/2008\">An Electric City original still burns brightly<\/a>: Frank J. Duci may lack official standing, but he&#8217;ll always be a mayor&#8221; (Nov. 20, 2008), we&#8217;re reminded:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">&#8220;It&#8217;s going to take more than a diagnosis of lung cancer and three months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments to silence the four-term populist mayor and 87-year-old gadfly, who refuses to let his passion for politics and the Electric City dim.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;text-align: right\">. . click for a 1-minute <span class=\"txSmallerBlack\">VIDEO: <\/span><a class=\"txRegLink\" href=\"var%20target=window.open('\/multimedia\/video\/TUvideo.asp?title=Frank%20Duci&amp;vidid=2074763001&amp;bccapt=Frank%20Duci,%2087%20and%20battling%20lung%20cancer,%20recalls%20the%20glory%20days%20of%20Schenectady%20with%20his%20boyhood%20Goose%20Hill%20buddies.%20(Paul%20Grondahl\/Times%20Union)','TimesUnionVideo','scrollbars=no,resizable=no,status=no,width=510,height=580');\">Frank Duci<\/a> reminisces .. <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.timesunion.com\/homepage\/graphics\/featured1120duci.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"97\" height=\"64\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">And, Frank Duci doesn&#8217;t just talk and walk, he&#8217;s still writing his legislators and newspaper editors on behalf of &#8220;hard-pressed taxpayers.&#8221;\u00a0 In this morning&#8217;s Schenectady <em>Sunday Gazette<\/em>, you&#8217;ll find his Letter to the Editor, &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailygazette.com\/news\/2008\/nov\/23\/1123_print\/\">Use Metroplex to offset local property taxes<\/a>&#8221; (Nov. 23, 2008, scroll to 5th letter).\u00a0 Frank writes:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/timesunion.com\/shared\/graphics\/newsdb\/X00188_9_116200831314PM_TN.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"89\" height=\"59\" \/> &#8220;Please, local legislators, your bosses are local taxpayers; voters must not be put into a serious financial debt payback. Legislative action must be taken to prevent [our economic development agency] Metroplex from borrowing up to $75 million at the expense of local, hard-pressed taxpayers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">We can only repeat what we said five weeks: &#8220;we can all only hope to &#8216;keep our faculties&#8217; and our zest for the political fight as long as Frank Duci has.&#8221; Let&#8217;s hope &#8212; and bet &#8212; it will be a very long time before we get to run this senryu regarding Frank J. Duci:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;padding-left: 60px\"><em>his quiet funeral\u2014<br \/>\na man who did<br \/>\nmost of the talking<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;padding-left: 60px\">\u2026\u2026\u2026.. by barry george &#8211; <em>frogpond<\/em> XXVIII: 1<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;padding-left: 60px\"><em><strong>update<\/strong><\/em> (October 17, 2009): Yesterday was declared Frank Duci Day in Schenectady, and Frank Duci Plaza was dedicated around the Avenue A home of the now 88-year-old former mayor.\u00a0 See &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesunion.com\/AspStories\/story.asp?storyID=853862\">After a long road, ex-mayor gets a street<\/a>&#8221; (<em>Albany Times Union<\/em>, October 16, 2009).<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2007\/02\/erasingF.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/> <strong><em>Rapp Raps Political Pundit Campaign Cliches<\/em><\/strong>: The <em>f\/k\/a<\/em> Gang is often on the same wave length as Albany <span style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-size: x-small\">entertainment and copyright lawyer (and adjunct professor) <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.paulrapp.com\/\"><span style=\"font-family: Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif;font-size: x-small\">Paul C. Rapp<\/span><\/a>. (<em>E.g<\/em>., <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/albany\/stories\/2006\/02\/13\/story5.html\">his position<\/a> against <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/02\/13\/perspectives-on-nysbas-war-on-lawyer-ads\/\">policing lawyer ads<\/a> to preserve the dignity of the profession, and his attack on big-media&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metroland.net\/back_issues\/vol29_no12\/rapp_this.html\">Broadcast Flag<\/a> ploy.)\u00a0 We found ourselves nodding vigorously in agreement with another of his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metroland.net\/rapp_this.html\"><em>Metroland<\/em> columns<\/a> again this week, titled &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.metroland.net\/back_issues\/vol31_no47\/rapp_this.html\">Reclaim the Language<\/a>&#8221; (Rapp On This, Nov. 20, 2008). Even though he forgot our favorite campaign bug-a-boo word (<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/10\/11\/big-hint-words-to-use-besides-battleground\/\">battleground<\/a>), we agree with Paul&#8217;s hopeful demand that &#8220;<span style=\"font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;color: black;font-size: x-small\">a number of grammatical                      terms disappear from the lexicon of the pundit class,<\/span>&#8220;because they lead to &#8220;<span style=\"font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;color: black;font-size: x-small\">unimaginative discourse, a swarmy and almost childish                      sameness to what is supposed to be enlightened, independent                      insight. Which it never is.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">The phrases Paul wants &#8220;to see banished henceforth and forever from our political commentary&#8221; are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em> flip-flop, close the deal, thrown under the bus, blame game, maverick, and comeback kid<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">Check out his reasoning to see whether you agree, and whether he missed some cliches you&#8217;d like added to the list.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2008\/08\/jbwingbeatsthumbnail_2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"64\" height=\"88\" \/> .. <strong><em>Matt Morden (and many more) in Wing Beats<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0 When I <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/08\/24\/john-barlow-not-only-for-the-birds\/\">told you<\/a> about the book &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wingbeats.co.uk\/the_book.html\">Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku<\/a>&#8221; last August, I&#8217;d only seen a selection of the poems and the cover photo.\u00a0 Thanks to its co-editor\/publisher John Barlow, I now have a copy and have browsed through the wonderful illustrations by Sean Gary, while skimming the poems. too.\u00a0 I must say I am impressed with the beauty and gravitas of the publication.\u00a0 It feels good in the hand and it is a treat for the eye.\u00a0 The 320-page volume features 323 experiential haiku (most written by Barlow and his co-editor Matthew Paul, but joined by 30 other poets) and 131 species of British birds.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">If you know a haiku lover, or a bird lover, consider making them a holiday gift of <em>Wing Beats<\/em> from  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.snapshotpress.co.uk\/\">Snapshot Press<\/a>, 2008 (ISBN 978-1-903543-24-5; to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wingbeats.co.uk\/order.html\">order<\/a>); the USA price is $40 (including P&amp;P).<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2008\/06\/logo_to_main_site.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"20\" height=\"29\" \/> Seven of the poems are by haiku friend and Honored Guest <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/04\/23\/matt-morden-archive\/\">Matt Morden<\/a>.\u00a0 Here are a few for your enjoyment:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">mountain wind<br \/>\nthe stillness of a lamb<br \/>\ngathering crows<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">\n<p>winter solstice<br \/>\nthe flock of starlings<br \/>\ntakes a new shape<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">osprey talons<br \/>\na twist of silver<br \/>\ncatches the sun<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/files\/2008\/08\/jbwingbeatsthumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"61\" height=\"84\" \/> &#8230; by <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/04\/23\/matt-morden-archive\/\">Matt Morden<\/a> &#8211; &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wingbeats.co.uk\/the_book.html\">Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku<\/a>&#8221; (Snapshot Press, 2008); from <em>Stumbles in Clove<\/em>r (Snapshot Press, 2007)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>. . . spending a chilly Sunday with some old acquaintances . . . Frenchie&#8217;s Family Sketches His Life:\u00a0 A lot of people were touched and angered by the story of Wilford &#8220;Frenchie&#8221; Hamilton, the affable homeless artist who was beaten to death at age 61 by two or three juveniles on the streets of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[555,1414,2927],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-haiku-or-senryu","category-qs-quickies","category-schenectady-synecdoche"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-2Gg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12112,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10308\/revisions\/12112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}