R.I.P. Dave Lettelier

David Lettelier was the Founding President of Phoenix Masonry and curator of its extensive museum, much of which came from his personal collection.  Over the years Phoenix Masonry has become one of the most visited Masonic websites in North America, if not the world.  Dave's interest in Masonry was broad and the museum showcases all manner of Masonic articles, from Co-Masonry, Prince Hall, Grand Orients....The world of Masonry is vast, complex, and diverse, and on Phoenix Masonry one can find a little of everything.

I wrote a few Masonic essays some years ago that caught Dave's eye and he asked to publish them on the Phoenix Masonry site. I was happy to do so. He later sent me a Phoenix coin which still sits on my mantle with other treasured Masonic items. We never met in person, but had talked about meeting up next time I went back home to Florida. He'd even looked into sending me some Cuban sandwiches packed in dry ice and shipped express to France after I bemoaned not having any Cuban sandwiches here. Dave was just a nice, thoughtful, and generous guy, a broad-minded Mason, and even though we never actually met in person, a friend as well as a Brother.

 

 

We hadn't been in contact for a long time, but a few days back I got a strong urge to write him about a project I am working on in which I thought he might be interested.  Maybe something (GA?) was letting me know that it was then or never, I don't know, because yesterday a mutual acquaintance contacted me to inform me that David had passed. Sad thing is I never sent the letter, and it's my loss not having been able to exchange ideas with him one last time.

 

David was a real mensch and a vital presence in Freemasonry. I will miss him. My sincere condolences go out to his friends and family. I hope it brings them a small measure of comfort to know that David was well-liked and respected and had a positive impact on many lives, including my own.

 

Peace be with you Brother.

 

Please feel free to share your memories in the comments.

THE SOUTH: Tampa

Tampa

Le train vient de faire halte

Deux voyageurs seulement descendent par cette

   matinée

 

brûlante de fin d’été

Tous deux sont vêtus de complets couleur kaki et 

    coiffés

 

de casques de liège

Tous deux sont suivis d’un domestique noir chargé de

 

porter leurs valises

Tous deux jettent le même regard distrait sur les 

    maisons

 

trop blanches de la ville sur le ciel trop bleu

On voit le vent soulever des tourbillons de poussière et

 

les mouches tourmenter les deux mulets de l’unique

 

fiacre

Le cocher dort la bouche ouverte

 

--------------------------- 

 

Tampa

 

The train has just come to a stop
 

Only two travelers get off this
   scorching 

 

end-of-summer morning
Both are dressed in khaki-colored suits and
    capped
 
in pith helmets
Both are followed by a black servant charged with
 
carrying their bags
Both cast the same distracted look at the

    too-white
 
houses of the city at the too-blue sky

One sees the wind kicking up dust devils and
 

flies tormenting the two mules of the only
 
cab
The coachman sleeps, his mouth open 

 

 

****

from Kodak (1924) by Blaise Cendrars (my translation from the French)

TAMPA, FLORIDA

 

 

Tampa, Florida

 

To sting a centipede around

A pineapple bend, on a peach - - truth is

Studied on the breast - - abysmally 

A picture of a tramp is being excruciated

Betwixt a splintered park bent bench

And truthfully

And in Africa 

A pink pygmy 

Sits stupidly on a bamboo spear

In the hark wide open jungle

 

****

from The Poems of Alfred Starr Hamilton, The Jargon Society, 1970

Oops?

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year was held Feb. 25-28 in Orlando, Florida.  Social Media users quickly noted that the unusual stage design for the event is essentially the "Odal Rune":  

Quoth Wikipedia:

"This symbol was adopted in Nazi Germany as the badge of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office, responsible for maintaining the racial purity of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS), as well as by the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen, the 23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Nederland, and many neo-Nazi groups worldwide...The symbol was later used by American white supremacists.

....DC-area design firm Design Foundry took responsibility for the staging design, saying that they "had no idea that the design resembled any symbol, nor was there any intention to create something that did." Design Foundry had proposed several stage designs to repeat client ACU, based on the "best use of space", and ACU decided which one to use. Ian Walters of ACU said they would no longer use Design Foundry for their events." 

Pure coincidence?  Intentionally used a wink and a dog-whistle to Trump's more radical supporters?  Intentionally used by the designer in order to make a statement about Trump's racist rhetoric?   

At the very least, it would seem synchronicity is making a comment about the direction the alt-right has been heading under Trump's "leadership".

It's not the first time.  We discussed back in 2015 how a Trump campaign ad included an image of WW2 re-enactors dressed as German soldiers.  Then in 2020 a re-election campaign ad used an inverted red triangle to illustrate an attack on Antifa and other "far-left" groups.  The ad was removed after it was noted the exact same symbol was used by the Nazis in the 1930s to identify Communists, Social Democrats, liberals, Freemasons and members of other opposition parties.  

At the time, one historian noted "It’s hard to imagine it’s done on purpose [not that hard, apparently], because I’m not sure if the vast majority of Americans know or understand the sign, but it’s very, very careless, to say the least."

Or do Trump and co. know exactly what they're doing?  One would suppose those who carried Confederate, Kekistan, and other far-right flags among the mob which attacked Congress on January 6 wouldn't disapprove....

The cold is rising

I've long been a fan of poet Alfred Starr Hamilton, and years back had a web page or two dedicated to him. Those pages have since been transferred to this here blog. So, it is with some surprise I see on the tubes a Band Camp page for the Bye Bye Blackbirds with a song called....Alfred Starr Hamilton. Why? I dunno. Not sure how the lyrics jibe with the man, but hell, why not link to it here for the sake of completism. 

 Alfred Starr Hamilton by Bye Bye Blackbirds. 

Time's a rag doll
With something bright and cold in its chest
Words can strip bark and seep between the buttons of your vest
The cold is rising
Is someone here to tell me it's fine?
So fine
Smoking by the window
Fine
Freezing in the winter

All right, I'll be listening, I'll be listening, baby
All right, right now

You know I love you
Unravelling and troubling the signs
With words that stand still and brighten in the corners of your eyes
So come inside, dear
Where everyone will tell us it's fine
So fine
Smoking by the window
Fine
Freezing in the winter