That's What I Like About the South

We've lived in the South since 1990. In fact, this month is our 15th anniversary of gracious Southern living - we moved away from suburban Chicago on Halloween night, 1990.

We lived in Chesapeake, VA for three years or so, and then moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where we stayed for eight years. On 9/11/2001 (no kidding), we moved here to a small town in upper east Tennessee - in the hills and away from large aggregations of people. Here, "rush hour" is having to wait through two traffic light cycles.

The people here are warm and generous and open, as a rule. Some things you won't see in Chicago that you see here:

When you encounter strangers, you say "How are you doing?" And wait for a reply. If you did that in Chicago they might call a cop.

In traffic, if you're on the busy street you stop, way behind other traffic ahead of you, and wave pedestrians and other cars across your busy street. Failing to do that is considered gross discourtesy. In Chicago...

If you're walking along the road [for exercise], it's commonplace for people to slow or stop and ask whether you want a ride.

For those of you who live in cities, this strikes you as pretty idyllic, and it is. But there are things which are so distinct from city culture than they can be a chore to adjust to...

In Jacksonville, a health care executive used the phrase, "This is a culture that values indirectness." That is so true. While Tennesseeans ae proud, and pride themselves in being "up front," there is still a circumspection that works against this state.

In competition with other U.S. or even foreign economic spheres, this region is consistently an also-ran, despite an abundance of natural and human resources. Pride can work against you. You can think that the advantages for outside investment in your area are self-evident. That is not always true.

Also, in dealing with people, there is a risk that a consistent desire to "spare their feelings" is genteel and kind. It can be, but it can also be dysfunctional. Giving and receiving direct, honest feedback here is not an easy thing - it's seen as counter-cultural and even offensive.

I must admit that I've yet to perfect this skill of giving essential feedback without hurting the other guy's feelings. I've been in Tennessee four years, and still experience the "pushback."

It would be easy - way too easy - for me to write this off as anti-Yankee prejudice. I am really eager to learn more about how I'm coming across to others, and improve in this area.

The Hudsucker Proxy

A Comedy of Invention

That's the subtitle of this one-of-a-kind movie. It never caught on because it has a goofy title and, possibly, because of the male lead's reputation as an actor.

Overlook those things - trust me. You'll agree that this is one of the best movies ever made because of it's relentless celebration of the inventive drive that created America as we know it.

In 1958, Norville Barnes comes to New York from Muncie, Indiana and finds that the only job he can get with his Muncie BBA is in the mail room of Hudsucker Industries, a huge manufacturing giant. He does not know that, due to the recent suicide of Mr. Hudsucker himself, the board seeks a proxy - an empty suit to front for the company and convince investors that the company has no future. With the stock depressed after the board dumps its holdings, the company can be repurchased on the cheap, and the proxy can be dismissed.

If you have trouble following this, check out what is happening to Bill Frist and HCA/Humana - it's just like that.

The inspirational story, though, really rises around a few strongly-presented premises.
1. Business organization, while not long on empathy, is a brilliant invention itself.
2. Original ideas will ultimately somehow incubate in this country - and that's what makes us so great.
3. Nothing can take the place of persistence.
4. How these ideas "catch on" is fairly mysterious but incredibly powerful - see Malcolm Gladwell's great book, "The Tipping Point," for more info.
5. Nurturing creative, original people is essential to success.

I used this film's amazing visual imagery in teaching business strategy and Human Resources classes. The sequence in the middle of the movie, showing how a new toy goes from conception to manufacture and marketing, and then "tips" into raging success, is one of the most musically integrated, brilliant sequences ever put on film. Maybe the Coens should rename it...

I Don't Like Mondays, Part 2

INVESTIGATORS HAVE FOUND SUSPICIOUS DEVICES INCLUDING GUN POWDER IN THE OKLAHOMA STUDENTS APARTMENT

A cache of explosive materials was discovered Sunday night in the apartment of a Wasson High graduate who apparently blew himself up Saturday outside a football stadium packed with 84,000 people at the University of Oklahoma.Colorado Springs Gazette Monday, October 3, 2005

Around 7:30 p.m. Saturday night, there was a loud explosion outside Oklahoma Memorial Stadium that was heard as far as five miles away.

Windows at George Lynn Cross Hall, were blown out, which are in the process of being repaired. And, windows to a bus that was parked nearby were also blown out. Norman Fire Department was called to spray debris and blood off the bus and the surrounding area.

More information is emerging on the Sooner Bomber.

Joel Hinrichs father, Joel Hinrichs Jr. said on Sunday that his son had trouble making friends and that he had battled depression.

Hinrichs' father, Joel Henry Hinrichs Jr., said he is clinging to the idea that his son's death was unintentional. He said he communicated with his son and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He said his son was a very intelligent and private individual who somehow lost the confidence that his life would be a good one.

He told The Denver Post that his son had trouble making friends with peers. He said his son took a year off college to try to cope with depression. Hinrichs' sister, Berkeley Hinrichs, told the newspaper that her brother said he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life. She also said it's possible her brother was doing an experiment and did not mean to kill himself.

The university president says it was a lone act of suicide:
Joel Henry Hinrichs III, a 21-year-old junior, was killed when an explosive attached to his body detonated while he sat on a bench across the street from the OU stadium in Norman, Okla., in the second quarter of the Oklahoma-Kansas State game. The blast was heard throughout the stadium and up to four miles away. No one was allowed out of the stadium for 30 minutes after the explosion, but the game continued. Sunday afternoon, OU President David Boren said “we are apparently dealing with an individual suicide” and said there was no evidence that Hinrichs planned to harm anyone else. But authorities found numerous explosive materials when they searched his apartment, The Oklahoman newspaper reported in today’s editions.

One blog writer added, "But the information by President Boren doesn't add up...

"No "normal" person commits suicide by blowing himself up in public with a backpack full of explosives.
Suicide bombers with suicide belts do not generally do so in isolation! How does one learn how to make a suicide bomb belt? A person committing suicide does not usually have a cache of explosives stored up just in case. Where does one look to find instructions for making a suicide belt? Are there any other internet sites besides militant Islamic sites where one can learn how to do this?"

“In hindsight, the handwriting was on the wall,” Joel Hinrichs Jr. said of his youngest son. “He was unhappy in his major (mechanical engineering). He had the energy of a young man, but he didn’t have the optimism. “He lived his life very privately. He was very bright. He was fascinated with technical information and subjects, but evidently did not pick up much confidence on his passage through childhood. He ran out of confidence last night.” Tom Hinrichs, 24, said his brother was lonely and frustrated. “I was surprised a bit by the details, but on the whole I was not surprised,” he said. “He’d always been fascinated with artillery. “He had real demons that were eating at him, and I told him some things I thought he needed to do, but he had such intense pride it didn’t register to him.” Joel III, who went by “Joe,” was the youngest of three boys and two girls. His father’s job as a software engineer brought the family to Colorado Springs from Illinois, about six years ago. His parents recently separated, and his mother, Elaine, also lives here.

FBI Special Agent Gary Johnson said there is an ongoing and intensive investigation related to Saturday night’s events and would not comment about the events concerning Hinrichs’ apartment complex.

Joel Hinrich's father is clinging to the idea that the suicide was an accident.

Remember the Song "I Don't Like Mondays"

I belonged to the Armour Chapter of Triangle Fraternity at IIT in Chicago. A friend sent me this yesterday...

BOMB BLAST OUTSIDE OF SOONER FOOTBALL GAME

VIDEO HEREOne person said he felt his house shake a mile from the blast.Police cordoned off an area around the George Lynn Cross Hall, Botony, Microbiology building on the OU campus.

During the football game yesterday an apparent suicide bomber blew himself up near the stadium.

Police are investigating an explosion at the University of Oklahoma late Saturday afternoon that killed one person. Authorities suspect it may have been a suicide. Campus police say the body was found outside the university's botany-microbiology building on the west side of the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. A game was under way at the time. The university's president says the blast could be heard by some in the crowd of 84-thousand, but that no one inside the stadium was ever in danger.

Saturday night, Oct. 1, 2005.

There were no other reports of injuries.

Students who saw the explosion aftermath said it smoked like a grill!

FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said an FBI bomb technician was providing assistance to local police. Emergency vehicles, including fire trucks, surrounded the area.OU police Sgt. Gary Robinson said the body had not been removed as of late Saturday night as a bomb team continued to check the area for possible explosives before detectives could move in for their investigation.Jaclyn Hull, an OU freshman, said she was leaving the game shortly before the explosion."We saw a little bit of smoke, about as much as you would see coming up from a grill," she said.

The bomber has been identified:
A University of Oklahoma student was identified Sunday as the person who was killed in an explosion near a packed football stadium, authorities said Sunday.

The body is believed to be that of Joel Henry Hinrichs III, 21, according to a news release from Salvador Hernandez, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oklahoma. A student telephone book lists Hinrichs with a permanent address in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Joel Hinrichs was a Triangle fraternity member and a junior in the engineering department. Michelle Malkin is linking to information HERE including a picture of Hinrichs.Triangle Fraternity has a statement out on their website.Update 4: (Monday 12:15 CST) Powerline is reporting that one source is saying that they found Islamic literature in his apartment. i do not know the accuracy of this claim.Update 5: (Moday 6:00 PM CST)