Hattie McDaniel

            On Saturday morning I continued memorizing “Le complainte du progres" by Boris Vian.

            I worked out the chords for the first verse and half of the second verse of “La noyée” by Serge Gainsbourg.

            I removed all of the records and books from the shelf at the southwest corner of my kitchen and pulled it away from the wall. I vacuumed behind and then washed the six-board wide section of the floor the shelf covers. There was a lot of greenish beige dried glue to scrape off. It seemed like a lot of work to clean an area that’s going to be covered up again and so no one will see it. I left all the stuff off the shelf so I could wash it in the next session.

            In the middle of the day the heat came on for the first time since the spring even though it didn’t feel that cold outside.

            I had crackers and cheese for lunch.

            I read about half of chapter two of Ways of Knowing. It describes the various political, economic and social systems of Indigenous people in different environments of Canada, such as the Arctic, the Sub Arctic, the Northeast, the Plains and the west coast.

            In the afternoon I did some exercises while listening to Amos and Andy. In this story Kingfish and Andy hear about a baby photo contest with a prize of $500. The most beautiful baby picture they know of is on the wall of Shorty’s Barber Shop and so they distract Shorty and steal it. They win the contest but learn that to collect the prize the mother and father have to both present themselves. Since Andy owes his landlady, Hattie McDaniel rent willingly poses as Mrs Brown. But then they find out that the baby also has to be presented. They ask Shorty where they can find he baby and he tells them it was him 40 years ago.

            Hattie McDaniel was played by the actor of the same name. For her role in Gone With the Wind she was the first African American to win an Oscar. The Academy Awards that year were held in a hotel with a strict “no blacks" policy but she and her escort were allowed in as an exception. However they still had to sit at a segregated table. She was also the first black person to sing on the radio. She appeared in over 300 films but only received credit for 83. She was the youngest of 13 children of parents that were former slaves.

            I took a bike ride to the Humber River and rode up the trail to look at the plaque commemorating the village of Teiaiagon. The plaque doesn’t seem to be on the actual site of the village. I don’t know if there is public access to the archaeological site and so I’ll have to look into that.

            It’s about the same distance from my place to Bloor and the Humber as it is to Bloor and University but then going up the trail took more time. Some people that looked like they might have been Native were making dinner on an open fire in the park.

            On my way home I stopped at No Frills at Lansdowne and Dundas where I bought Canadian grapes, imported grapes, strawberries, a ham, some Greek yogourt, cranberries and mouthwash. I’ve never seen so many male cashiers in one supermarket. Mine was asking everybody if they were having a good night so far. I answered that it hadn’t even been night yet when I’d walked in there.

            It was dark when I left the No Frills.

            I sautéed some onions, added powdered garlic, a can of tomato sauce, paprika and cayenne. I boiled some spiral pasta and had some with sauce and a beer while watching two episodes of Dead or Alive starring Steve McQueen.

            In the first story Josh gets hired by Noonan, a ranch manager to bring back alive Juan Portilla, one of the ranch’s line riders whom he says stole $10,000 from the ranch. Juan’s father Luis tries to stop him but Josh makes him come along. They follow Juan’s trail to a cabin in the mountains where they find him dead. It turns out to have all been a trap by Noonan, who was the real thief. Josh shoots Noonan in the leg and cripples him.

            In the second story Josh is approached by a man named Poe who offers to lead him to a wanted man named Shawnee Bill for half the $2000 reward up front. Josh agrees but the next day Poe puts the money in an envelope and has it sent to Butterfield on the next stage. Then Poe tells Josh that he’s just been tricked, since he’s Shawnee Bill. Josh takes Poe into custody to deliver him to Colorado. They are being trailed by a relentless bounty hunter named Galt who shoots Poe from a distance. Galt does not realize that he has killed Poe and so Josh ties Poe to a horse and sends it galloping in Galt’s direction. While Galt prepares to shoot Poe, Josh sneaks up behind and kills him. When Josh arrives in Butterfield, Colorado with Poe’s body he learns that Poe is a well liked family man there and that he’d just sent $1000 to pay for his wife’s medical bills. Unfortunately the wife died leaving their five-year-old daughter in the care of her grandmother. Josh tears up the reward poster and moves on.