William Shatner is pictured above with Jeanne Cooper in The Intruder, a 1962 movie which was perhaps ahead of its time in its handling of racism and integration.
His wonderful both spiritual and physical capacity with the English language, first as Captain Kirk and later on, makes it easy for me to call William Shatner an Indigenous Man Of The Anglosphere (IMOTA).
Captain Kirk asked, “Whatis a man but that lofty spirit, that sense of enterprise, that devotion for something that cannot be sensed,cannot be realised, but only dreamed, the highest reality?”
And Kirk said, “Sometimes a feeling is all we humans have to go on.”
Later on Shatner said, “Being an icon is overrated, remember an icon can be removed by a mouse.”
Shatner also said, “I alwaysuseastuntdouble. Exceptinlovescenes. I insist ondoingthemmyself.”
We don’t need Scotty now as much as we used to, but William Shatner still lights us up.
Geoff Fox, 12th March, 2023, Down Under
William Shatner with Julie Newmar: a strong man’s hand on a beautiful woman. The way God meant things to be.
It is John Barrymore’s 141st birthday today or tomorrow. I mark the occasion and his gifts by naming him an Indigenous Man Of The Anglosphere. He was called the “greatest living American tragedian” giving acclaimed performances as Hamlet and Richard The Third.
Barrymore with Carol Lombard in “Twentieth Century”
His sister Ethel and brother Lionel were also actors.
To begin with, on the stage, his brother Lionel was more likely to be cast as a leading man. John would get the comedy roles. An American cinephile friend of mine writes: “By the time they all went into the movies ( silents ), John became the one to have the leading man roles and was known as “THE GREAT PROFILE”.
He loved living free.
Actors to portray Barrymore include W.C. Fields, Lawrence Olivier, Errol Flynn and Jack Cassidy.
Barrymore had alcohol problems at 14 years of age and was bankrupt in later life. He said, “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open.”
It wasnt always the life of a an unattached libertine. He married Dolores Costello, pictured below.
John Barrymore described Hamlet as a “normal, healthy, lusty young fellow . . … he was a great fencer, an athlete, a man who led an active, healthy life.” In the above photo Barrymore is being a normal young man with Dolores Costello in “The Sea Beast”. Later on, she became his third wife.
While he is quite a flawed individual in some respects, I regard POTUS 45, Donald Trump, as easily one of the best American presidents in my lifetime. (along with Ike, JFK, RMN, and The Gipper.)
One of his strengths is that the fact that he is a family man has given him some really good and truly beautiful people working at his side.
Father Donald and daughter Ivanka at work in the Oval Office with wise words from their First Lady.
On the basis of the quality of the words and insightful thought in his Inaugural Address, on this date 6 years ago, I now name President Trump as number five in my series of Indigenous Men Of The Anglosphere.
Here is a selection of ideas from that speech:
“Today’s ceremony ……. has very special meaning, because today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people …….
The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country …….
What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people …….
The forgotten men and women of our country, will be forgotten no longer ……..
(Our) movement (has) a crucial conviction, that a nation exists to serve its citizens …….
We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny …….
We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example …….
……. through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. The Bible tells us, how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity. We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements, but always pursue solidarity ……..
There should be no fear. We are protected, and we will always be protected ……. most importantly, we will be protected by God.
……. we must think big and dream even bigger. In America, we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving.
It’s time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget, that whether we are black, or brown, or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots. We all enjoy the same glorious freedoms …….
……. whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty creator …….”
This sort of speaking is what I call Living In The Word.
If you wish to understand why such words and ideals are very important to me personally, please read “Augurs Of Freedom”, which I wrote three years ago about thoughts on Inaugural Day from three other presidents.
Recovering from trauma and restoring true greatness can only be done with love.
An Anglican priest in Wales bitterly opposed to the Anglicisation of his native land.
An ardent Welsh nationalist but a great poet in English. A very unique Indigenous Man In The Anglosphere.
He wrote that “The world needs the unifying power of the imagination.” and “The nearest we approach God is as creative beings.”
He loved the endangered red kites of his native land.
When I think of R S Thomas, I think of how it feels when Bunjil soars above me in this ancient southern land.
Geoff Fox, 29th March, 2022, Down Under
(The word art “Silence Flying Free”associated with this post is published under a creative commons license by Geoff Fox and is based on a photo by Charles J Sharp of a red kite in England.)
It is inconceivable to me that he could have committed the crime for which he was falsely imprisoned three years ago today, but, as Ned Kelly is reputed to have said, when they executed him for a probably overly robust young man’s defence of his family from police persecution “Such is life.”, in the police state of Victoria.
Pell began that day with a mass in the family home of his lawyer. He writes: “Mass as usual in the McFarlanes’ dining room, graced with images of the Duke of Wellington, W. G. Grace, and Victor Trumper, who had probably never attended daily mass before.
I chose the votive Mass of Our Lady as during the long travail I had placed myself under her protection.”
He describes the afternoon hearing in the Court of Appeal like this: “Ä good deal of the sentence discussion was surreal and Kafkaesque, as the judge listed the many reasons why the attack was implausible and then tried to conjecture my motivation. …… I almost forgot to bow to the judge on leaving the courtroom.”
The Cardinal describes his first night in prison like this: “As I was judged to be at some risk of self-harm, I was under regular observation during the night. ……. I was a bit exhausted and slept deeply until woken by the observer. ……. I am now at the quiet heart of the storm, while family, friends and wider Church have to cope with the tornado.”
How did it come to pass that the man, entrusted by conservative Pope Benedict and progressive Pope Francis to improve financial management at The Vatican, came to be treated like this in Australia?
Geoff Fox, 27th February, 2022, Melbourne, Terra Nullius
Mikhaela Ebony sings for Douglas MacArthur’s birthday
Apart from his achievements as a general and statesman, I consider Douglas MacArthur to have had considerable poetic talent.
When I was asked to design a War Memorial at Morotai’s Air Kaca, where MacArthur built his wife a bathroom, I looked at the words of Churchill, Roosevelt and Curtin first but there was almost always far too much political purpose in the things they said.
When I looked at MacArthur’s words, I found much more lasting truth.
So I consider him a great Indigenous Man Of The Anglosphere.
Geoff Fox, 26th of January (Douglas MacArthur’s birthday) 2022, Down Under
Theologian Wycliffe was a pioneering Indigenous Man Of The Anglosphere. (IMOTA.)
He created the first complete English language translation of the Bible because he believed all his people needed to be able to read it in their own language.
He was a hero but treated as a heretic in life and even after his death.
Sometimes some people make living in The Word very, very hard.
FREEDOM, DEMOKRASI AND CIVILISED HUMANITY 