CineMontage

Q1 2020

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15 S P R I N G Q 1 I S S U E The Unknown Knowns Rob Callahan G E T T I N G O R G A N I Z E D T he Honey Drippers dropped their funk jam "Impeach the President" in 1973. Barely a toddler at the time, I've no memory of the song from its initial release. (Nor have I any first- hand memory of the contemporaneous Congressional inquiry into Nixonian misconduct.) In the mid- to late-80s, though, the record's promiscuously sampled drum- beat formed the backbone of a goodly portion of my adolescence's soundtrack. Later, as a young adult, I would listen to the Honey Drippers' original recording, and hearing that record was a curious kind of revelation — the discovery of something simultaneously strange and familiar — the stranger still for its uncan- ny familiarity. I was hearing "Impeach the President" as if for the first time, but its rhythm h a d a l r e a d y l o n g b e e n tattooed indelibly upon my memory. If you'll indulge me in some sophomoric rumi- nations on epistemology, this column will reflect upon what we know with- out knowing — the ideas baked into our culture to such a degree that they can seem almost innate, always already assumed. And it will re- flect, too, upon the consequences of folks willfully forgetting such knowledge. What the hell does any of that have to do with the Editors Guild? I'm glad y o u a s k e d . L i k e s o m e nightmarish rehearsal of a tenth-grade social studies class, this quarter's column n o w i n te r r u p ts i ts e l f to administer a pop quiz. Your assignment: Explain the significance of the phrase " g o o d f a i t h a n d f a i r dealing" in the context of Editors Guild membership. Okay, pencils down. How'd you do? My guess is that a lot of Guild members, thus tested on their un- derstanding of the significance of "good faith and fair dealing," would find them- selves at a loss. Very few, I suspect, would be able to cite Article XIV of the Guild's IMPEACHMENT TIME HAS US THINKING ABOUT THE UNION VALUES THAT ENDURE — AND THOSE THAT DON'T A certain U.S. politician was the inspiration for the funk jam "Impeach the President." P H O T O : A P I M A G E S

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