6 Comments

Great call to action for artists and such a gorgeous last line from Morrison. Just wish I could unsee that image of President Reagan in a hard hat...yikes!

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It's the turkey neck that does it for me! What a glorious time for American culture, haha.

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It is President Nixon in the picture with the hard hat, it’s 1970, Wonderful President Reagan was not President until the 1980’s. Typical liberal, knows nothing of history but spouts off about it!

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Brilliant, truly insightful writing on a great soul and fantastic poet and musician, the late, great Jim Morrison. "L.A. Woman" lives forever, survives and thrives from generation to generation, and that song, perhaps more than any other by The Doors, rocks like a hurricane and re-defines eternity. Your summation is wise---we can all learn to hammer down and get more focused on the art we create---I am a poet and writer, and also, retired Ronin counterterrorist (I worked for the Europeans)---and as you say, learn well from Jim Morrison's death and the hard road he made for himself in his last few years. I can only add that it was the State Department in October 1945 who are truly responsible for the Vietnam War. Yes, Jim Morrison's father, Admiral George Stephen Morrison "can be said to have started the Vietnam War single-handedly with his careful construction of the Gulf of Tonkin incident." But looking hard at the origins of the American Indochinese War, as it's referred to in Asia, we never would've fought the Vietnam War had the State Department not betrayed Major Archimedes L.A. Patti and his fellow American spies and paramilitary commandos in "The Deer Team," in October 1945. The State Department shit-canned all of his field intel from summer 1945, when Patti was lashed up with Ho Chi Minh, General Giap and the Viet Minh, rescuing downed Allied airmen in southern China and northern Vietnam, and also, raiding Japanese supply lines in northern Vietnam. Patti told the State Department point-blank that the only people who wanted the French back in power in Vietnam were the French. The State Department did not care and shit-canned Patti's field intel, and likewise, refused to hand over Ho Chi Minh's letters to President Truman. Truman never knew that the Deer Team existed and never read Ho Chi Minh's letters to him. This is all covered in depth in Patti's brilliant work of history, WHY VIET NAM? AMERICA'S ALBATROSS---2nd hand copies are still available on Amazon, and it was published by UP California, Berkeley press. Please know that I mean you no disrespect, but just thought you might want to know that about the tragedy of American diplomats not listening to those very savvy American spies on the Deer Team----in counterterrorism, we have a saying: "Not listening kills you in love and war." Thank you for honoring Jim Morrison. Again, brilliant essay.

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This piece had it all: societal context, sharp figurative language, strong pull-quotes, and musings on a life well-led. You synthesized a lot of source material, and you did it well. Damn fine work 👏 Glad I got all these new vantage-points on an old idol 👌

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Jim was beautiful artist and a beautiful person he rly was the face of peace if you can imagine a world without war his poetry was loved by all

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