JOHN VAN BUREN


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THE DISSOLUTE SEAMAN

“Mrs. Teed was bound to Jack by a chain which could not be dissolved. That son, whom she has brought to prove the innocence of her husband, was put to bed with the assassin of her uncle.”- Martin Van Buren to the jury.     “I’m starting to wonder if James Teed might not have gone from some otherwise low tide indifference (or pleasure) with Anak-Jack clam diggin’ with ex- Hanna to facilitating a double elimination (Dick & fall guy Jack),(also pleasure), lubed and fueled by the still house formaldehyde? Power and dignity may be taller boots indeed, but they seem to sink even deeper into their own shit. Keep it comin’! I’ll winch my ass out when I need to!” This quote is courtesy of my good friend, and loyal reader, artist Ted Rosenthal. Every morning he reads the blog and responds with his helpful exegesis. It’s an invaluable gift that reminds me that at least one person is reading. You think art is a lonely game? Try writing a fucking book.     ...
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THE BADGE OF HIS DEGRADATION

“The prisoner at the bar gentlemen is an interesting object. The badge of his degradation covers his body. Born and reared in poverty and ignorance; a friendless stranger, the fortune of war, I believe, threw him upon our shore and a day of misfortune brought him into the employment of David Conklin and through him into intimacy with Mr. and Mrs. Teed.”- Henry G. Wisner to the jury.        Having been privy as a child to first-hand oral history of my grandfather Wray Osterhout, and grandmother Mary Ethel Jennings, who were children when cattle were still driven down the dirt road from Cochecton to Newburgh, I have a basic perspective on anecdotal local history, but that’s as far as it goes. They didn’t talk much about their past, preferring instead to enjoy a comfortable present, and promising future. I know my grandfather grew up dirt poor and only received a sixth grade formal education. I don’t think my grandmother graduated from high school either...
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EPILOGUE

“…the history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest….” Howard Zinn, A People’s History 1980 “There seems to be something willful, something almost luxurious in your desire to feel ashamed of the past.” -Duncan Campbell Scott, Conversations With a Dead Man by Mark Abley 2013      A hundred years after the fact, on the so-called “civilized” east coast of 1879, the Sullivan/Clinton Expedition was considered a patriotic, ancient military campaign by the time General Tecumseh Sherman took the platform to give his memorial speech; in front of the adoring centennial crowd in upstate New York. After the Civil War, military men and armchair historians enjoyed a sort of heyday, bringing the musket, tomahawk and scalping knife back into parlors and auditoriums of genteel society. Men like Rev. Charles Rockwell, Sam Eager and James Quinlan, joined more scholarly, yet flawed, intellects like William L. Stone and F...
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