Well, wrapping is done and the battle of the NY mediocrities is upcoming, so it's almost time for Christmas. A few have linked in because of my reference to St. Royko's Christmas columns. The post discusses a Royko biography and ends with a footnote:
Well, that clinches his dirty hippie creds for sure.
The book reposts what appears to be most of a touching column, told through the eyes of alter ego Slats Grobnik, about a young married couple that clearly had very little money buying a Christmas tree. They bought two cheap trees ($3), both half crummy. SG later saw a tree in their window, and it looked wonderful. Turns out, they tied the two together, and "if you put them together just right, you can come up with something really beautiful." You know, "Like two people, I guess."I also linked to "Mary and Joe, Chicago Style." There is a book entitled Jesus of Hollywood that discusses film portrayals of the birthday boy and notes the various typical tropes used. Dickens helped to provide our Victorian view of events. But, Royko provides perhaps a more appropriate vision in honor of a unmarried teenager who gets pregnant and whose son grows up to be a light for many, but favors hanging out with the usual enemies of Republicans and other respectable folks. Heck, he even hung out with a tax collector!
[Slats was introduced in the 1960s, when a major policy role in the poverty administration was given to a poor person. This seemed off to Slats. He was drunk for as long as he could remember, but was never offered the presidency of Seagrams.]
Well, that clinches his dirty hippie creds for sure.