• More and more I find myself repeating Don Edwards’ lyric, “I thanks the lord I wasn’t born no later than I was…”
The wimpification of America continues apace, with this from the Pittsburg Post Gazette:
A backpacking trip in the Rothrock State Forest and day hikes in the Laurel Highlands and Shenandoah National Park in Virginia were among the Penn State Outing Club’s 2018 spring-term events.
After this weekend, though, the 98-year-old organization has nothing on its calendar, and unless things change, it won’t.
The Outing Club isn’t allowed to go outside anymore.
According to an announcement posted by the club on its website last week, the university will not allow the club to organize and run outdoor, student-led trips starting next semester.
“This is a result,” the announcement said, “of an assessment of risk management by the university that determined that the types of activities in which PSOC engages are above the university’s threshold of acceptable risk for recognized student organizations.”
That’s right, the land once roamed by Shawnee, Delaware and Long Knife warriors, is now deemed too dangerous for college students. As mi hermano John Cornelius notes, “Somebody has a serious rectal-cranial inversion. Possibly terminal.”
• The History Channel’s SEAL Team drama Six returns Memorial Day Weekend. I’ve taken History Channel to task recently, but this series is pretty good, thanks in large part to the presence of Walt Goggins. That dude has a penchant for surviving shots to the chest. Just ask Raylan Givens.
• A couple of weeks back I listened to a podcast featuring Don Winslow, author of The Power of the Dog and The Cartel. I love his dark and powerful work and I respect the man. If you are a writer, this podcast will inspire the hell out of you. Listen here.
• I owe a great debt of gratitude to our own Breaker Morant for introducing me to the works of T.V. Bulpin. His narrative histories of the Southern Africa frontier are just a delight — solid history well told, with an eye for eccentric characters. Get yourself a copy of To the Banks Of The Zambezi, his history of what is now Zimbabwe from the Age of Exploration through the founding of Rhodesia. Pour yourself a beverage, smoke a cigar and be transported to another time and place…
• Thanks to Bulpin, I am now hot on the trail of “the Prince of Frontiersmen,” one Johan Colenbrander. Raised among the Zulu and fluent in their tongue, Colenbrander was one of Cecil Rhodes agents in securing a mining concession from Ndebele King Lobengula. Trusted by the African tribesmen, he led a native contingent in the 1896 Matabele Uprising and was Rhodes’ translator at the great indaba (conference) that ended the rebellion. A British loyalist, he led a counter-guerrilla force in the Boer War, chasing Commandant Scheepers in the Cape and some of the last Boer bitterenders in the Transvaal.
A crack shot, an ace rider, he was one of the great Frontier Partisans — and a man with a fine mustache. Bulpin wrote a narrative biography of the man in 1961, based on research by Colenbrander’s son. It’s on its way…
• Also ordered up The Cowboy Capitalist by Charles van Onselen — a reassessment of the 1896 Jameson Raid into the Transvaal and the workings of John Hayes Hammond in that great filibustering disaster. I’ve been reading van Onselen’s book Masked Raiders about the highwaymen (mostly Irish) of 1880s/90s South Africa. The man sure can follow a trail. It’s quite fascinating to tease out the connections between and among the various frontiers of the Age of Imperialism — the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America, Southern Africa, Australia. Not only are there many similarities of conditions and social and cultural activities and outlooks, a lot of the characters involved actually spent time on multiple frontiers, especially those involved in mining.
• The Cherokee Civil War is getting the mainstream Big Book treatment in John Sedgwick’s Blood Moon. I’ll get to it, eventually, when I return from the veld. It’s gratifying that some of these less well-known frontier stories are getting mainstream play, as with Autumn of the Black Snake.
• The ace badass lawman Bass Reeves is going to get his moment on the big screen. According to Deadline:
“(Chloe) Zhao is writing and will direct the pic, which will follow Reeves’ journey as a young man born into slavery in 1838 who fled to the Indian Territory in search of freedom and went on to become one of the greatest lawmen of the American West. Zhao made her directorial debut with the film Songs My Brothers Taught Me, which was produced by Forest Whitaker and debuted at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Her follow-up feature, The Rider, premiered at Cannes and won the Art Cinema Award. In addition, the film earned her a nom for Best Feature and Best Director at this year’s Independent Spirit Award, where she also picked up the Bonnie Award for innovative vision and breakthrough work of female directors.”
Rick Schwertfeger says
Yes, I posted on The Wussification of America last week re: Penn State and its Outing Club. My advice: Young people, if you like the outdoors, go to Montana or Montana State.
JimC says
As kooky as some of its denizens are, the University of Oregon has a robust outdoor culture.
Paul McNamee says
I don’t have much to contribute this month. I know you prefer non-fiction but you might like to know that ol’ Bass is being worked into the weave of the New Pulp wave.
https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Reeves-Frontier-Marshal-1-ebook/dp/B01A7Z7C44
https://www.amazon.com/Bass-Reeves-Frontier-Marshal-2-ebook/dp/B0743DFS93
I need to get around to these sometime soon.
JimC says
Excellent!
Matthew says
I haven’t read any of those anthologies, but Derrick Ferguson who wrote for them created on of my favorite New Pulp characters: Dillon. He’s sort of a black version of Doc Savage/James Bond/other pulp characters. Two of the novels are set in the fictional country of Xonira which is an island civilization in the South Seas founded by pirates (and other rogues and outcastes.)
Paul McNamee says
It’s hilarious that the outdoor excursions are deemed too risky. Here in my suburban backyard I had a red fox go after a turkey hen last week and then, just yesterday, in another part of town, they had to kill a fox that got aggressive and attacked people (won’t know if it was rabies until tests come back … it could just have had babies and a den nearby.)
Nothing is risk free. Risk assessment & management of any given current environment is another life skill we’re probably losing in our modern way of life.
JimC says
The “risk managers” actually make the situation worse by attempting to remove individual responsibility.
Keith West says
Not only that, but I would feel safer in the woods than I would in the city.
John C. says
I wonder if Penn State’s “threshold of acceptable risk” applies to their fraternities propensity for encouraging alcohol consumption at orders of magnitude above the legal limit? Not to mention serving minors, or high-risk sexual behaviors.
Apparently, they must have failed to assess the risk of playing collegiate football, as well, which I imagine entails a whole lot more danger than backpacking, kayaking, and getting out in fearsome old Mother Nature. I would bet that if the Outing Club’s activities brought many millions in revenues to the university, their 2018 docket would be loaded. Cynical? Yes. Realistic? Yes.
JimC says
Football means $$$$$!
Matthew says
Always thought WATCHING football was boring myself. Do you realize how much time they spend not playing the game? They spend a lot of time standing around, huddling, lining up and stopping for a commercial break. It’s more fun to actually participate in than to just watch though.
Hiking wouldn’t be fun to watch, but it is more constant activity and probably more like the physical activities that are ancestors engaged in.
Keith West says
Exactly. Follow the money.
Keith West says
I saw a copy of Blood Moon the other day and wondered if it had pinged your radar. Then I got buried under work and forgot to check with you. I’ll pick it up next time I’m at B&N
john roberts says
I imagine the outdoors ban has more to do with insurance than any real fear of danger. In today’s litigious atmosphere if a student breaks a leg during a school-sponsored outing, it would be the school that gets sued. The school probably just doesn’t want to pay the exorbitant premiums demanded by the insurance companies for coverage.
JimC says
I’m sure that’s a big part of it. Still pathetic, no matter how you slice it.
RLT says
I’ve been waiting for the Bass Reeves movie forever. Possibly the most dangerous person in the country at his time, and certainly the most dangerous one wearing a star. Made over 2,000 felony arrests in a 30-year career. Guy was an absolute badass any way you figure it. And he also had a moral code. The best biography of him is Black Gun, Silver Star by Arthur Burton. Actually, it’s just about the only biography of him. Old Bass is seriously underrepresented in the media.
JimC says
Yeah, that’s the only serious bio. He was the real deal.
Matthew says
From what I read, they have been trying to make a Bass Reaves movie forever.
Dave Allen says
The whole problem that “Risk Management” creates lies with the fact that there are just way too many lawyers with nothing legitimate to do in this country.
Glad to see that Marshal Bass Reeves is finally getting the recognition he deserves!
lane batot says
Yup, damn Insurance Companies–the cancerous parasites of modern society–they are destroying a lot of stuff. The idea of “insurance” is practical in theory, maybe was an honorable, sensible deal once-upon-a-time, but it has become a legalized form of extortion that is eroding society. Despite the “risk”(which we primates have had to deal with even while we were still tree dwellers), I have canceled every form of insurance I can legally do without, and am banking the money that I would have to pay to keep it. Then I have ALL that money, every penny PLUS interest, to use for any emergency or repairs, no red tape, no run-arounds, no loopholes denying any returns on all those extorted payments. And it is also because I HATE insurance crookedness SO DEEPLY, I want NOTHING to do with the support of such dishonest dealings, regardless of any difficulties it MIGHT incur–and no more flushing money down the toilet. I can easily repair my own toilet!….As for”Outing Clubs”–I never have been much of a club joiner anyway–some anally controlling arsehole virtually always seizes control and ruins any kind of club in existence, and clubs are then no longer fun–better to keep things unofficial to remain FUN. One reason, as a kid, I shyed away from the Boy Scouts was the militaristic, demanding nature of the outfits I witnessed–I had FAR MORE fun running wild in the woods with my dogs, or with a few likewise juvenile rogues, than I ever saw those uniformed, task/badge oriented drudges have. Although I’m sure there are plenty to beg-to-differ with that opinion! I never will forget raiding a Boy Scout campsite that invaded MY territory once–I sill have one of their canteens with the motto “Be Prepared” stamped on it. They weren’t, never even imagining a feral kid like myself lurking in the forest. Yeah, Pennsylvania Outing Club kids–you’ll have WAAAAY more fun WITHOUT even MORE “structured” anally controlled club rules dictating yer every step in the great outdoors! Getting out in the “wild” SHOULD be an ESCAPE from such! Just my savage opinion…..
JimC says
I was always more of an unofficial fun kinda guy myself. I was pretty disgusted when I was in Cub Scouts and saw people getting merit badges for things I knew they hadn’t done and couldn’t do. Their parents/scout masters just signed off. The friend who recruited me had a chestful of arrowheads; turns out he couldn’t do any of the stuff the arrowheads represented. Bah! My first experience of unearned merit. I also got in trouble for throwing a kid into a fireplace while leg wrestling. I was “too aggressive.”
Eccentric Cowboy says
A movie about Bass Reeves? One of the greatest lawmen and bounty hunters that ever lived? The supposed inspiration for the Lone Ranger? The gunslinger and master of disguise? One of my personal heroes to boot?
About cactus-kicking time! This has immediately put me into a better mood. Thanks for the heads up pard!
JimC says
Glad to have brightened the horizon.
Reno Sepulveda says
That podcast was great! Really look forward to The Trapline.
JimC says
Glad you enjoyed it Reno. It really made my night when I listened to it.
Black Tyrone says
Photo of indian scouts are not Cherokee nor Apache as I have also seen same labeled. They are Warm Spring Indians serving circa Modoc War. War in the Lava Beds They are wearing what appears to be enlisted mans surplus and Hardee hats.