Review: Orphans Preferred by Christopher Corbett.

Cover of the 2004 paperback edition. Image found on the internet.

 

"The path of the Pony Express crossed what is today eight states and virtually every terrain imaginable, from amber waves of grain to sand hills to high sierra to alkali desert - from Missouri into Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California." - Orphans Preferred, Page 46

The vast interior of North America in the 1800s was empty of European civilization. No cities, no roads, no interstate highway system. The telegraph and rail roads would come later, and civilization would inevitably follow. Until then, it was Indian land, and the white man was just passing through in an often lethal attempt to keep communication open between the coasts of a the young United States via the legendary Pony Express.

Orphans Preferred, by Christopher Corbett, follows the history of the Pony Express from inception to eventual closure and is parts epic history, social study, and intimate look into the often short life of the young men - often just boys - who rode the express. It does an admirable job of highlighting all that in an easy and captivating manner.

The far more compelling aspect of this book lays in one's own juxtaposition from modern day comforts to the brutal expectations of a much harder (and now lost to us) people. How the west was won could only have happened through the toughest, hardiest, people that ever lived, and done through near force of will alone.

The title of the book itself refers to the hiring notice placed in newspapers at the time: Orphans Preferred. The riders of the Pony Express were essentially engaging in a suicide mission where an anonymous death was to eventually be expected. It would be best if the rider did not have family who would dwell on the fate of their young man who rode into the wilds and fell out of existence.

"They outran Indians and they outran wolves. They rode around or sometimes through vast herds of buffalo. They road by moonlight and they rode when there was no moonlight to guide them. They swam swollen streams. If a horse was lost or killed (and this happened), the riders were instructed to carry the [mail bag] on their backs to the next station." - Orphans Preferred, Page 82

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Pony Express is that it existed for only a year and a half, between April of 1860 and October of 1861.

That it still captures the imagination 158 years later - I suspect - has far less to do with the business enterprise itself, and far more to do with some primal, long buried, facet of the American character who longs to jump on a fast horse and ride for their life with actual purpose. To test its mettle, and feel life in the raw just once before death, away from the meandering conveniences of technological progress that emasculates and withers the soul...and I have to believe...the same thing the Indians were fighting to protect for themselves.

"Nothing that has blood and sinews was able to overcome your energy and ardor; but a senseless, soulless thing that eats not, sleeps not, tires not - [...] Rest then, in peace, for thou hast run thy race, thou has followed thy course, thou hast done the work that was given thee to do." - Orphans Preferred, Page 121, Quoting an 1861 Sacramento Bee editiorial

The Full Story (or Brent Makes Good?)

Image found on the internet

 

The story in full (but the short version is: A combination of extreme luck and work ethic prevailed in my success that starts tomorrow, and I have many people to thank).

Back in 2016, I was excelling at a job I actually hated. My team and immediate Supervisors were good people but we were all at the whims of upper management who were making terrible choices. I was miserable and I had a last straw moment and quit for my own sanity. I was able to quit because I was in a living arrangement that would support me until I could secure a new job.

Then almost immediately that living arrangement dissolved and my family and I were on the verge of being homeless and me without a job. It was a very dark couple of months where we were in serious consideration of renting an unfinished warehouse to live in. Thankfully a good friend was there by my side when few weren't and helped me navigate emotionally the turmoil.

Then, my fairy-godmother, a child hood friend, shows me how to get my foot in the door at Tesla Motors as an entry level physical grunt worker at the age of 45 years old. It paid less than I was previously making, and I could not see a future there as I had ZERO experience with the automotive industry, manufacturing, etc, but it was a job.

Then something utterly strange happened. I started to excel at Tesla.

Thanks to co-workers who have turned into amazing friends and family, I was able to find a new path in life. Promotions quickly followed. I was now making more money than in my old job. Intelligence and a work ethic will take you a long way but after 4 years I had reached pretty much the limit of what I could do in that role, and I had no desire to be a Production Lead or Supervisor.

Then truly out of the blue I got a call from another department who had seen my resume somehow and asked if I wanted to interview for technician position. I of course did, and I got it. It was more money with significant room to grow again. My first day in that role was December 7, 2020.

I was incredibly fortunate, absolutely dumb luck, to come on board at the very beginning of something new and once again, intelligence and work ethic propelled me towards success. In the last year I have earned the respect of upper management and engineers who know me by reputation and in personal connections. I jumped over ranks in promotion mid 2021.

I tell you all this, because now I am jumping again to Supervisor which will change the trajectory of my families life for the better.

And I start tomorrow.

One day less than a full year from when I started this new role, and a few weeks shy of 5 years at Tesla.
Of all the things I've personally accomplished, reaching this level of success in this short of a time, is my proudest, even if took me to 50 years of age to reach it. People talk about doors of opportunity, but you have to be ready to bolt for it when that door swings open. 

Thanks for reading.
-Brent

"A great accomplishment shouldn't be the end of the road, just the starting point for the next leap forward." - Harvey Mackay

Review: Hostiles

Image found on the internet

Hostiles is a good movie, with an unremarkable story, but accentuated by great performances. The plot goes something like this: A well known Indian fighter, a captain in the US Cavalry (Bale) is tasked with the escort of his old enemy, an Indian chief (Studi), from New Mexico to Montana. Along the way he picks up Widowed frontier woman (Pike). Many dangers are encountered. Most everyone in the movie dies violently. It is broadly, a movie about broken people on the frontier in 1892 coming to peace with who they are, what they believe, and coming to terms with what has been done to them and the people they love. As I said, the story is nothing significant. It makes no revelations. Anything high-minded comes off as caricature.

That said, I declare it a good movie primarily for the acting of Bale, Pike, and supporting cast who bring serious dramatic subtleties and nuance to their roles. In this regard, the movie is mostly an intense character study with even throw-away supporting characters getting a chance at being more than stand-ins. The relationship between the captain and his corporal (played by Jonathan Majors) and the captain and his sergeant (played by Rory Cochrane) feel genuine and heartfelt, if not heartbreaking.

Disappointingly, the Indian cast is almost completely wasted. Studi has nearly nothing to say throughout, and his son (played by the talented Adam Beach) says almost as little too. I cannot recall now if the other Indian actors even said a word.

On the John Ford Test, it scored a perfect passing grade. The cinematography is gorgeous, letting the camera dwell on the vast epic landscapes of the American West (filmed in Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico) when the sense of isolation is required, or frenetic shots of tight spaces when claustrophobic tension is needed. Occasionally the movie has moments of Western transcendence when the acting and the cinematography are in perfect sync as when Bale's captain has a breakdown with a storm raging behind him.

Being a modern western, it is of course revisionist with morally gray characters and ample dialogue that sounds contextually like Presentism, rather than the realities of 1890s frontier life, but regardless there is much to be commended in the making of an "intelligent" western.

I recommend this movie.

-Brent

"It's not the load that breaks you down. It's the way you carry it".  - C. S. Lewis

Western Cinema (or Sweeping Vistas?)

 

"Your landscape in a western is one of the most important characters the film has. The best westerns are about man against his own landscape." - Ridley Scott

John Ford didn't pioneer the use of long shot cinematic scenes, but he was arguably the master of it, especially as it concerns westerns. So much so, that to my mind any movie or tv show that wants to claim the mantle of "western" has to pay off the sweeping vast landscape of a harsh frontier juxtaposed with the fragility and smallness of the common man. In fact, almost any western made today pays homage to this style, as both a nod to John Ford directly, and to the inextricably linked visual.

John Ford does Monument Valley. Image found on the Internet.

This is on my mind because I've watched a couple of TV shows that do this well, and a few that do it so poorly it is practically criminal. Specifically, I will look at Longmire, Godless, Frontier, and The Pinkertons.

Longmire is a classic western placed in modern day. Beyond the plots, what really sold it as a western is the frequent long shots where for a few brief moments, it let the audience dwell on the scope and vastness of the landscape. The scenes from Walt's front porch, or the wilderness trekking, or the rugged ground of the Indian reservation. The producers of the show stated in the "making of" on one of the DVDs that the New Mexico landscape became an additional "cast member" with equal air time. 

Robert Taylor as Walt Longmire. Image found on the internet.

Jack O'Connell and Michelle Dockery in Godless. Image found on the internet.

Godless too was filmed all over New Mexico for near authenticity and it shows. Like Longmire, the camera lingers on landscapes, such as when one man on a horse is shown in the foreground, but behind him is a limitless horizon. It elevates the material to something genuine from something that could have been filmed on a back lot (The tv show Justified, for example was supposed to take place in Kentucky, but was filmed in Southern California and it was obvious).

Now, two shows that do an injustice...

First up is the show Frontier (on Netflix). Not exactly a western, as it takes place in Canada between Montreal and Hudson Bay during the late 1700s, but it is near enough to a western to warrant a discussion precisely because they are literally filming in the middle of nowhere, on location in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Labrador, etc and the filming is practically claustrophobic. Title cards appear claiming the action is taking place somewhere remote, but then we get close ups of trees. The show makes frequent comments about the vastness of the territory, and yet every scene looks like it's happening mere yards from the last scene. It might as well have been filmed in the woods on a back lot. It becomes extraordinarily noticeable during the 2nd season when someone figured out they were wasting their locations and suddenly we are treated to these sweeping vistas. The sudden change is a shock, but the show improved significantly purely because of long shots and context. The plot and acting didn't get any better, but the show is better for showing us more than a few trees.

Landon Liboiron in Frontier Season 1. Image found on the internet.

Jason Momoa in Frontier Season 2. Image found on the internet.

And finally to cap this rambling essay, I bring you The Pinkertons. While containing a great premise of following real (but fictionalized) Pinkertons in Kansas City shortly after the Civil War, and drawing upon actual cases worked by the Pinkertons, it comes off a Cosplay Western Police Procedural. There are a few set pieces endlessly reused (it's amazing how many cases can be solved in a saloon) and the few exterior shots we get are, like Frontier, claustrophobic outside of a cheesy matte painting of Kansas City. Again, this is all so criminal because it is actually filmed in Manitoba, Canada, and has available a luxury of landscape.

Jacon Blair in Pinkertons. Image found on the internet.

I guess really, if I have a point, is that a western (or something like it) needs that long shot to establish authenticity. Otherwise, it looks like people playing pretend in silly costumes.

Disappearing Act (or Another Three Years?)

 

Image found on the internet

Almost exactly three years have gone past since I last put pen to paper, or more accurately, finger to keyboard. So much has happened and lots of changes occured. So much chaos, and most of it good, and one very bad thing. 

The Updates:

• Work: I am still at Tesla and rocking a new job as a Process Engineering Technician for significant more pay. And it looks like I am to be promoted to a Manufacturing Supervisor by the end of the year which comes with a six figure salary. This naturally means less-hands on work which I love so much, and more desk duty, but at my age, I need to start considering less strenuous work. Speaking of...
• Health: As we all know, the end of 2019, beginning of 2020 brought us the Chinese Bat Faver aka COVID-19. I skirted through it pretty well until I caught it mid 2021. Thankfully it wasn't much more than a common cold for me, but catch it I did, and it spread to wife and daughter. They too weren't much affected. But between that and turning 50 years old this year, I could feel age and years of physical mistreatment of myself starting to catch up and made the difficult decision to pursue a less physical job.
• Home: My wife and I bought a home. It's a lemon. A shifting cracked foundation leads to a lot of cracks in walls, and broken floor tiles. Also, frankly, the city we bought in - while nice neighborhoods abound - is largely a haven to homeless and crime, and it's not safe. We'll sell and move as soon as we are able.
• Wife: I was able to keep my job with the move after the home purchase, but my wife wasn't, and frankly been a struggle for her to find/keep a decent job since.
• Daughter: Still doing college and looking into a program where the college will pay for her Masters and PhD, and give her some spending coin too, if she agrees to be a TA at the same time. Good Deal!
• Son: Still living off-grid and being a bad-ass. I can't say much more than that.

And there are some other things which have changed about my passions and focus, which I hope to eventually get to, but I will save those for later. 

The real low-point in the last three years is the death of my beloved furry-boy, Dima.

Cancer got him. We fought like hell to save his life, give him as much possible quality time as we could, but life had other plans and he died in our arms at our home. Eleven years with us, and I still had so many adventures planned.

Anyway, as I said, I hope to continue this blog. More later.

-Brent

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order. - Carl Jung