My best bet for helping bring about a better world

is to write down what I know and put it out there for people to discover.

Reply to Kate Pierson's email of Oct 24 2016

Hi, Kate,

Just saw your emails. This address goes through my professional mailbox and I'm semi-retired, so I don't always see messages right away.

Thanks for making an effort to get in touch. I was in Athens when the news broke. You may or may not know I had arranged, as executor on my Mom's estate, to sell our old house to Roy Bell. He's going to renovate and resell (i.e., flip) it. He will do beautiful work that will transform it for its next life and I hope it contributes to his and Debbie's financial well-being.

The sale closed on Friday and I was sorting through the last of my parents' archives to clear them out on Sunday when Roy called to tell me about Jeremy. Very sad for sure. I was already invited to dinner at Roy and Debbie's and Roy and I took a walk through Jeremy's gardens, which were very lovely.

For some reason Jeremy did not communicate with me much in the past few years. It had been many years since we actually sat down and talked. We were Facebook friends and I appreciated that he'd become passionate about progressive politics but he didn't seem to take an interest in anything I was doing. My practice is to leave it alone if people pull back. But my relationship with Jeremy went back to early childhood (our Dad's played golf together!) and he had a very important positive influence on me for which I'm grateful. I need to write about Jeremy and hopefully the Muse decides to inspire my pen.

Sending you peace, love and good vibrations always,

Owen

I want to write about Jeremy Ayers but I don't have time

But I will get a start. I'm being swept along by the forces of life. So many endings piling up. I wrote down two thoughts.

One thing you don't want to do in this life is stagnate.

In a long life are many goodbyes.

I was in the middle of going through my Mom and Dad's archives, the task I saved for last, when Roy called. Most of the papers and letters and various items were crammed into a file cabinet and boxes in my old bedroom downstairs that later became Dad's home office when I moved out of it into the larger and cooler (literally) bedroom in the opposite corner of the basement that Anne vacated when she left. A number of large hinged cartons of Mom's research files, newsletters and copies of magazines with articles she published were in the third bedroom. This was Scottie's former abode from when she was known as Kay, a name she always hated. I left permanently in 1976. Scottie came back periodically during the time she was transitioning from addiction to stability. That would have been in the 1980s after I graduated from WVU and moved with Mary Lou to Baton Rouge, all of which is another story entirely.

I wanted to go through the papers carefully and keep everything that was meaningful. Quite a bit of information about Mom and Dad's life and work was preserved. Then Roy called and said Jeremy had a seizure and was in the hospital on life support. He had no brain activity Roy said. He was essentially dead. Roy had seen and spoken to him only a day or two earlier. It was a shock to him.

The effect on me was filtered by the fact I had been seeing my parents' lives in the long perspective. I could think of Jeremy this way, too. Our Dad's played golf together at Green Hills Country Club as far back as I remember. Jeremy (Jerry back then) was friends with Anne. They played "Jet Set" pretending they were wealthy international partiers. They modeled this on The Pink Panther.  I associate the delightful film score with them during this period. Later, Jerry and I went to the Green Hills swimming pool in the summer and hung out. He was so beautiful and charming and he was four years older. Girls were drawn to him and I was in awe and clueless.

Ill in New York

I saw Harold Brandt on October 18 (it seems like it wasn't that long ago) and discussed my recurring sinus and respiratory symptoms. He advised against getting on an antibiotic and recommended using a saline solution on my sinuses. Unfortunately, I failed to get the saline and when I arrived in New York City very early Friday morning (230am instead of 10pm Thursday because of Mike Pence's airplane skidding off the runway at LaGuardia), I found myself with worsening symptoms. I decided not to attend ABCT and to rest as much as possible.

Nonetheless, the time in New York was fairly pleasant. Mary Lou and I spent yesterday with Jenny, venturing out to the new Whitney Museum down in Chelsea. The Carmen Herrera exhibition was a visual treat and there were many other beautiful, interesting, stimulating and iconic pieces on display. The lemon cranberry scone from their cafe was delightfully light and buttery. We had tickets to the Broadway show Front Page a block from our hotel (Marriott Marquis) but I could only tolerate the first of three acts due to relentless nasal drip and my aversion to the cynical attitudes of the characters toward capital punishment.

Jenny spent the night in our room Friday and Saturday. We slept in after Mary Lou left and now I'm on my way home between Atlanta and Baton Rouge. Lying in bed last night I contemplated the unfolding universe. Human beings mistakenly think the whole thing revolves around us but we're wrong. "Man is the measure of all things" I recall from a film strip about the Greeks and their interest in philosophy and science. From a human standpoint that's true. We evaluate everything, of course, in terms of ourselves. But that doesn't mean we're more important than any other aspect of the universe. Yes, our existence and our capabilities are amazing- from our own standpoint. From an objective standpoint, is anything more amazing than anything else? It's all about our subjective judgments and what happens when we realize our own perceptions have been narrowly conditioned by culture.

Am I becoming progressively more passive? Perhaps I am. I find it easier and easier to tell myself that the things we get excited about, up about, down about, angry about, frustrated about are mostly a result of our desires and expectations. We can reframe them as "not all that important" and tone down the drama. Georgia loses ignominiously to Florida in the Cocktail Party and I don't really care. Detroit loses to Houston and I feel mildly disappointed even though I follow Detroit closely. I care and I don't care. I've got a coherent perspective that's pretty astute. I realize there are limits to what I can accomplish. I'd like to help the human race become more cooperative and less self-destructively selfish and violent. I'm motivated to survive and take care of myself and stay as healthy and functional as possible. I like encouraging and helping people when I'm in a position to do so.

Today, Mary Lou left early this morning and took my green plastic medication organizer with her. It contained my Adderall as well as my atenolol and finasteride. I was somewhat annoyed because of my issue with people not being aware of and considerate of my needs. But I took it philosophically. I take almost everything philosophically these days.

War isn't going anywhere

"Only the dead have seen the end of war." George Santayana

The incentives for leaders of powerful countries favor the continuation of war rather than establishment of peace. The international dynamics are not noticeably different than for leaders of the empires who started World War 1.

Don’t be vulnerable to other countries.

Arm your country as strongly as possible.

Be prepared in case a war breaks out.

Strike first if war is imminent.

Money is to be made from manufacturing and selling arms at home and abroad.

National pride and pragmatic incentives (land, money, power, resources) leads countries to compete and threaten one another.

Internal dynamics of countries also encourage armed violence.

Leaders who are perceived to be strong and nationalistic are popular, other things being equal.

Leaders with strong military and police forces are likely to use them to stay in power.

Leaders are not inclined to compromise, give up territory or give up claims to territory through negotiation in the absence of armed threat.

Stephanie Reavis' questions and my answers about what makes Athens Athens.

Stephanie,

You’ve put together a rather comprehensive set of questions to stimulate thinking about what makes Athens special. Some of the questions are relevant to my experiences and some aren’t; so, I’ve answered the ones about which I have something to say.

What are the characteristics about Athens everyday life that make it unique, different from any other city in the US? What, in your opinion, is the shared philosophy, or outlook on life, of Athenians?

The short answer I will give is the culture of Athens cultivates benevolent, creative eccentrics. There is no one or a few types of Athenians. Rather, anything goes as long as it’s interesting and not blatantly negative. People I know who come to mind are Jeremy Ayres, Ort, all of the B-52s (two of whom are transplants from New Jersey), Conner Tribble, Paul Thomas, Jim Herbert (a Yankee), and relative newcomers like Kevin Brady (also a naturalized Athenian). There are lots of good and creative people in Athens who are more restrained, let’s say, than most of the ones I mentioned but my examples are people further from the center. Of course, I don’t by a long shot know everyone in Athens, having been away for so long, but I believe my view has merit. So how did it get this way?

I have ideas about that as well based on personal experience. My family moved here just before my birth in 1952 when my Dad took a position as a professor at UGA. I lived here until I was 24 years old except for a 2-year period (my third and fourth grade years) when we lived in Rockville, MD. So, I understand Athens from the perspective of being a kid during the Fifties and a teenager during the Sixties. Athens had a number of separate social classes before the Sixties: Some general segments would include old genteel business and professional people; academics, blue collar white folks with heavy southern accents, college students and African-Americans. These could of course be broken down further but the class lines were pretty clearly drawn.

Being a naïve smart kid I found these things confusing as I began to become aware of them in middle school. Looking for direction and inspired by the Beatles, I took up the guitar and started playing in bands. Local musicians played the ‘soul music’ popular with college students at the time so, like it or not, that’s what you played. I preferred British invasion and one hit wonder garage bands. Then, c. 1965, psychedelic, folk rock and hard rock began to emerge and I was right on top of it. But it was hard to find other musicians on the same page. My older friend, Jeremy Ayers (he was Jerry back then), was an Art major at UGA and he introduced me to his artist friends as well as Jim Herbert. (Jeremy was the first person I knew who disclosed being gay to me). I was fortunate to be mentored in pop art and all the latest music by Jerry’s boyfriend, Crist Kocher. My high school pals included Ricky and Cindy Wilson and Keith Strickland who were a few years younger. They were also influenced by the older people I mentioned.

Having come to the conclusion society was completely wacko, which was confirmed by Bob Dylan, I hoped to make guitar playing into a successful career- I couldn’t think of anything else I could stand to do. Time went by, I graduated high school, and without giving it much thought, I enrolled at UGA, the thing to do in my family. I played with Keith and Ricky at that time but nothing came of it. Other bands recruited me but despite having some very talented associates, major success proved elusive. The Zambo Flirts were my last band and after things didn’t fall into place, I decided music wasn’t working out. I left Fall 1976 to start graduate school and have not lived in Athens since then. Just as I was leaving, the B-52s came together at my house, the one I just sold to Roy Bell, after a famous outing to Hunan, the local Chinese restaurant. I had already decided to go in a different direction and I wouldn’t have fit into the B-52s’ creative persona. It happened the way it needed to.

Things unfolded from there: My parents remained here and I visited several times a year, keeping up with my closest friends. The B-52s became stars. Athens became the magnetic pole of the music world.

With the emergence of the Internet, the aging of my parents, and increasing flexibility of my work commitments, I began to visit more often and keep up more closely. In essence, I reengaged with Athens to the extent that my involvement is part of my daily life. I mention all of this to put my thoughts into a substantive context.

From your personal experience, what best describes the music culture of Athens? Is there a specific sound that is heard only within the Athens scene, as opposed to other music towns? 

No. Athens music is extremely diverse. 

In your opinion, what are the factors that attract so much diverse musical talent to this particular city?

From my narrative, you may get the picture of Athens being a somewhat sophisticated university town in the Fifties that was rocked and transformed by the cultural waves of the Sixties. Athens natives older than me tended to remain rooted in the old culture or to catch on late. Open-minded/alienated people my age and younger caught the wave and became part of the creative fabric that led to the success of the B-52s and REM. Their success gave Athens the reputation as cosmic music Mecca that began to draw people who hoped to get in on the party. If I had to name one person who had the greatest influence on the creative transformation of Athens, it would be Jim Herbert. Jim's house on Dearing Street was our countercultural safe haven, Grand Central Station, a continuous soirée of cutting edge thought and expression. He took in and empowered numerous and varied young men and women, like a rescue shelter for artists and eccentrics.

If you met someone from another country visiting Athens for the very first time, and without any prior knowledge of this town, describe the tour you would take them on. What restaurant, what nightclub, what music venue, what local color attraction, etc?

Athens is physically beautiful, especially in the Fall. I would just randomly do the following: walk around downtown with them, drive through older neighborhoods along Milledge Avenue, pass through the campus, eat at the Grit, and/or Clocked and/or the National or Cali and Tito’s or any of a number of eating places, drink Irish coffee at Hendershot’s and go hear Conner Tribble at the Office or wherever he’s playing, go to whomever is playing a show at the Foundry or the Georgia Theatre, some combination of those things. (Some friends and I did this recently with an Australian poet who could easily be an Athenian and would make a great person to interview about how Athens looks to an outsider. Her Facebook name is Roxy Contin (legal name Karyn Treadyea). Did you happen to meet her?)

In what ways are you proud to call Athens your home? 

See above.

Thinking globally, what in your opinion, would you consider to be Athens's best contributions to world culture as a whole? What life lessons could benefit the world from the Athens experience? In other words, what does Athens have to teach?

Be cool, have fun, don’t judge? Athens is just a really cool place where it’s OK to be creatively different.

That’s pretty much what I’ve got without writing a book. I hope this is helpful.

Yours truly,

Owen

The poisonous idea

 that because they want to, big, powerful men are entitled to use women as sexual objects without their consent must be rejected and eradicated once and for all. I'm doing my part; do yours.

Woodrow Wilson

decided it was more important to protect US financial interests than to stay neutral in World War I. Another example of trying to control things and producing unintended consequences rather than sticking to principles.

Why war?

is the theme of Honors 2000 these past 3 years. While we have delved into many aspects of war in the course, I don't think the curriculum has directly addressed the question. Here are some of the reasons I believe the human race continues to practice warfare.

 1) Organization into social groups- creates property, resources, power and advantages of strength in numbers.
 2) Attachment to self, family, group, nationality.
 3) Attachment to personal power and resources.
 4) Competitive and aggressive tendencies: Desire to defend what we have and acquire more.

Criticism

Generally, I frown upon endeavors centered on attacking someone else's work.

I received an email today from my second cousin, Bill Howbert, with this photo of the lovely painting of Rebecca Nixon Scott and my great-grandfather. Bill tells me the painting in now in the possession of Maria Leake (see below)

Rebecca Nixon (1813-1897) was originally from South Carolina. She was the second wife of Alfred Vernon Scott (1802-1860) of Lowndes County, Alabama where his father divided a large tract of land obtained from the Creek Indians among his numerous children. Alfred used his resources well and was quite wealthy. He sold everything off and moved to Washington, DC with Rebecca and their 3 children in the 1850s having realized there would be a Civil War and the south would lose. He died before the war broke out. When it did, Rebecca took the children south to live with her uncle, William Owen Nixon, in Alabama. Rebecca and WON (1850-1913) returned to DC as the war was ending and were able to retain their property. My great-grandfather, father and myself are named WON Scott after the uncle.

The painting is one my Dad inherited from his father that was a part of the collection of paintings belonging to William Owen Nixon Scott, our great-grandfather.  Dad later gave to his first cousin, Carolyn Leake as a gift and there is not another similar one. The other paintings are now at my home in Baton Rouge, the most recent being the portrait of WON Scott as an adult. The resemblance of that portrait to Frank K. Scott is most striking. That painting was at my parents' home until a month ago when I had it shipped to Baton Rouge.

I made a special trip to visit Carolyn, whom I had not previously met, in Columbus, Ohio, about 10 years ago. During a lovely visit, I saw the painting in her apartment at an assisted living community. Carolyn organized a little party for her friends in the community in her apartment and I had a most enjoyable time assisting and chatting with Carolyn and her guests.