News of the World: Armadillos and more

from armadillo-online.org

Exotic as an eight-banded armadillo. Did you know that armadillos generally give birth to identical quadruplets? They do. While I don't think I've ever seen an armadillo other than in a zoo (if even there), I've had a fondness for them as a symbol for many years. Just look at their adorable snoutlet and perky ears, their attractive bands, and who could resist their ability to curl up like a pillbug to resist harm? There is a Jan Brett book for children called Armadillo Rodeo about a spunky lil 'diller from the Texas hill country who tries to befriend a fancy cowboy boot. I actually have a collection of armadillos: armadillo pins, stuffed armadillos, an armadillo planter, an armadillo mug. And yet I don't recall ever having met an armadillo. Why do I like these critters so much? They are cute, tough, resourceful, self-protecting. That they are symbols of Texas has always been incidental, and yet they indubitably are.

A New Yorker trashing Texas should probably to be expected, since (real) NewYorkers generally trash everyone. Meaning, everyone is fair game to a New Yorker. Texas isn't as desirable a target as say, California (bunch of fruits and nuts who are going to fall into the Pacific any day now), but the stereotype of gun-toting, big-haired Dallas oil magnates and tumbleweeds brushing against pick-up trucks crashing into drive-through liquor barns - well, it's there.

I've never been a fan of the western genre, neither in movies nor books, but I did read some examples over the past several years. Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men and The Road made it pretty clear that Texans are some gritty-ass people. After reading those I wouldn't mess with Texas either.

The most recent book I read about Texas was much more benign.  It was News of the World by Paulette Jiles. It tells the story of a elderly itinerant newspaper reader in Texas who has to deal with informing a highly polarized post-Civil War society that the 15th Amendment to the Constitution has passed (outlawing slavery). While doing this he agrees to take a 10 year old blonde girl who was taken captive when she was 6, back to her German parents near San Antonio. Drama ensues. It's actually very beautifully written, with beautiful, poetic descriptions of nature, and simple, straightforward explication of the characters. I'm too tired to write more about it now, and I've promised myself to write something every day, so I'll sign off here. I am writing again so that I can look back in the future and see what I was thinking now, much as I am able to do with my old diaries from ages 8 to 25 or so. Good night.