Death of the Ayn Rand Scholar by Gray Cavender (classic literature list txt) 📕

his comments from an earlier class that some individuals (or corporations), if left to themselves, might be honest, but others might not be. She even recalled a quote (OK, a paraphrase) from that discussion about the necessity of some form of external social control for civilization to persist. She restated that earlier quote…Professor Naremore smiled.

Then, Professor Naremore revealed that he had tricked the class…he’d also apologized for doing so, and said it was to make an important point. The quotes that he’d read, the quotes that some students had agreed with, were not from newspaper interviews with corporate leaders with respect to the recession of 2008. Instead, they were actual quotes from corporate leaders at the start of the Great Depression back in the late 1920s. These guys had all blamed the depression on over-regulation at a time—as Professor Naremore had emphasized—when there was virtually no regulation of the corporate sector. He’d concluded that the Depression had occurred because there were no regulations on the single-minded pursuit of profits by the corporations. The quotes from back during the Depression really sounded as if they were current statements from the corporate sector. In her notes, she had written a name and title for the book about the quotes, the one he’d read from: Suttles, Front Page Economics.

Professor Naremore had said that in the aftermath of the Depression, that Congress had over the years enacted laws and regs that were designed to avoid such an economic cataclysm again. In her notes, she’d underlined the word ‘cataclysm.’ He said that over the past several years, Congress had, one-by-one, repealed those protective laws, and that this happened with both Democrats and Republicans. She saw in her notes that he’d emphasized two points: first, that the Great Recession of 2008, like the Great Depression of the late 20s, had been possible because of a lack of regulatory protections; and second, the consistency of the corporatist ideology during both time periods.

Jillian had even written in her notes: ‘collective rights over corporate rights to profit.’ That was what she’d remembered, and why she’d dug-out these notes. They’d squared with (albeit the exact opposite) of the Rand-related notes from her freshman English class. “Not bad,” she thought.

Her dad answered the phone. “Hi Jilly,” he answered, happy at first. Then his tone changed. “Is everything OK?”

After she’d read through her old notes, first on Atlas Shrugged and then from Professor Naremore’s class on regulation, Jillian decided that this was enough for the day on Professor Siemens’ case. She wanted to check-in with her dad, then eat, and end that portion of her work day by assembling the materials that she’d need for the Task Force meeting in the morning.

Calling Dad was first. “Yes, Dad, everything is fine…”

“You’re sure? Everything’s OK?”

“Yes. I told Mom that I’d call to check-in with you. You know, now that I’m back working with Tempe and with Wes.”

“Just trying to put your dad’s concerns to rest, l imagine.” He laughed. “Thanks for that.”

“Your welcome. And yes, I don’t want you to worry too much…a little is OK,” she teased him.

“Worrying about my daughter is my privilege and my responsibility,” he said, a statement that Jillian had heard him say many times. “Anything to report so far? Do you know whodunit?”

“No, not yet, but we’re working on it…and you know, we will find out whodunit it, and whydunit,” she answered, repeating language she’d heard him use about crime fiction.

”But no prime suspect yet?”

“No,” she answered, but even as she did so, she automatically flashed-on the people she and Wes had interviewed.

“I did want to ask one question, Dad, and it’s about poetry?”

“I guess this is because the victim is an English professor. Well, I’m always glad to help the constabulary…shoot.”

“OK, so one of the people I’ve interviewed is an English professor named Billy Gilroy. I interviewed him because he called-in the crime…actually, a second person in English called independently. And…” she decided that she shouldn’t say more about his comments about Professor Siemens. “…anyway, he’s a poet, and I just wondered if you’d heard of him.”

“Gilroy…let me think.” The line was silent while he thought. Then, “Yes, Jilly, I’ve heard of him. I just had to think for a second…he’s not especially well-known…and I don’t think I have any of his work.“ He was quiet again. “Ah…I’m pretty sure he also wrote a novel...one, for sure. I don’t remember the title...but I did read it. I’d describe it as one of those ‘English professor’ novels, you know, a novel written by someone who gets a salary and doesn’t have to worry about book sales…know what I mean?”

“Yes,” she laughed. “Oh, and while I was reading about him, I saw a reference to another poet…named…” she checked her notes…”Fred Cavell. Apparently, Professor Gilroy studied with him. Ever heard of him?”

“Oh yes. Fred Cavell is in a very different league. He’s a well-known poet, and he’s also written several pretty good novels.”

“I thought that maybe you’d read me some of his poems. But, I wasn’t sure.”

“You know, you’re absolutely right, Jilly. I think they were in a collection titled Carolina Harvest. He did those as a riff on Carl Sandburg’s Harvest Poems. Sandburg’s collection was about the Midwest back in the early 20th century, you know, ‘Chicago, city of big shoulders.’ Remember that?”

“Yes, I’ve heard you read it many times.”

“Right, well, Cavell’s collection is shifted both temporally and geographically…to the late 20th century, and to the south, more specifically, to North Carolina. A lot of Cavell’s poems essentially parallel those of Sandburg, but with a very different sensibility.”

“I think you read some of them to Mom and me.”

“I did…when he won the Pulitzer…this would have been maybe 10 years ago…maybe longer. Anyway, Cavell is the real deal. And tell me again, why did his name come up?”

“Professor Gilroy studied with him. That’s all.”

“I understand. I just wish you could have interviewed Fred Cavell…that would’ve been something. But, so in terms of this case, you’re back with Wes Webb