1.
Echo Brown:
Not sure why I was being so PC (politically correct) or dorky to write my previous piece as if I was leaving room for this woman to be transgender, but upon further review, unlike Dez Bryant — or like Dez Bryant in a perfect world* — she seems XX chromosomally.
2.
Ava Moore and Old Town School of Folk
When I was in Chicago last — compared to Chicago first, January, 1964, I was born there, South Side peoples — in summer, 2009, on tour with Dao Strom, my Dartmouth classmate and BFF Brian Moore and his wife gave birth to Ava, their second child, now about 4. I noticed a flyer, on the bulletin board of Old Town School of Folk, and had it inscribed to Ava from the bandleader who worked or taught there. The gig was the exact date as Ava’s.
3.
Echo echo and Guatemala:
I noticed in my box a note from the Dartmouth club local president and I thought that maybe he was sending note from Echo Brown to redact my unkind comments. Or, maybe she wants to meet with me, so I can either produce her show here or be her manager. That duality made me think of a story I wrote for The Dartmouth in 1983 about Efran Rios Mont. I recalled just now to Professor John Watanabe:
Professor John:
This is pretty random, but:
When I was a freshman, in 1983, I was sent off campus to interview ann ’82 who had worked in Guetamala, I think as part of a Crusade or evangelical action. He had an office down near the barbershops, Lion of Judeah or something, a Christian NGO, was a former footballer, African American and part of Campus Christian Fellowship. Maybe his trip was sponsored by Tucker. I sat with him for an hour, wrote up his story, nearly verbatim, no other research or fact-checking or contextualizing.
He worked with Efran Rios Montt and the story was was that they called Efran to the capital, and they didn’t know if he was being summons to be disappeared or what, and it turned out they wanted to make him Jefe or El Presidente, and the recent Dartmouth grad told me the newly minted pea-green freshman cub reporter that he felt this was a Sign that God was taking a role in the affairs of man — I recall my editor I think he was jim Scovill ’83 said I did a good job not over-playing the source’s evangelicalism, although we probably described or hinted at the guy’s formation of these ideas. I think the headline — I did not write — was “My friend the Junta Leader”.
Obviously I was clueless. The article catalyzed a series of letters from people who knew slightly more about G (the country) and the context. We ran the letters under subheads “God and Guetemala” and “God and Guatemala 2”.
A quick check with Wiki confirms that ERM went down in history as kid of a baddy. “frijoles y fusileres” guns and beans, etc.
A quick check also yields your name in context to the country. I presume you started at Dartmouth much later.
I ran for public office here. I went to Oaxaca as an exchange student via city of Palo Alto, CA my home, and still keep in touch there. I am trying to promote a mixteca band Pasatono Oquestra de Oax, por ejemplo. I was an English major not Spanish and read some history philosophy and govy.
What exactly made me think of all this is that I see in my in-box a note from the head of the Dartmouth club here referencing a recent alumna I wrote a cold review of and I do not know if they want to shoot me or manage her.
I hope this is not too random for you. If you are curious I can help track down who the source was. I’m curious what he is up to. I presume he recants his story to some extent.
Mark Weiss ‘86
Plastic Alto the blog
Earthwise Productions of Palo Alto
(650) 305-XX XY wink wink
student of Bruce Nelson, Kirk Endicott, Michael Dorris (rip), David Shapiro a Shakespearean now at Columbia, etc.
I actually also wrote a pan of “Selma” based on its proselytizing elements and kinda pissed off another Dartmouth ’81 in the arts. i’m a fan of Jimmy Carter, however, if you follow my thought process.
* I am saying, in my inimitable and confused way –a s Jonathan Richman says –that Dez Bryant made that catch and wuz robbed and Echo Brown in the Bob Dylan sense just like a woman
quite a catch
Plastic Alto with Mark Weiss 