and i wanted to talk about them beginning with huck finn because i think huck finn is america's literary declaration of independence. and i felt that at the end of huck finn that people started moving out and going to other landscapes of america. so babbitt becomes the anti-huck which is the standardization of thought. that is what is really threatening us today, indifference, sleeping consciousness which is all the things that is talked about. okay. and then carson -- [inaudible] and then, of course, the great, the incomparable james baldwin who was not just a writer, not just an african-american writer, not just a gay african-american writer, not just an american writer, but a writer. who speaks to all of us

and i wanted to talk about them beginning with huck finn because i think huck finn is america's literary declaration of independence. and i felt that at the end of huck finn that people started moving out and going to other landscapes of america. so babbitt becomes the anti-huck which is the standardization of thought. that is what is really threatening us today, indifference, sleeping consciousness which is all the things that is talked about. okay. and then carson -- [inaudible] and then, of course, the great, the incomparable james baldwin who was not just a writer, not just an african-american writer, not just a gay african-american writer, not just an american writer, but a writer. who speaks to all of us and who's so important today. and i think we should remember baldwin. i don't have time to go into it. and i want to end by a quote from mark twain. mark twain gives a talk to what he calls the mayflower tribes, the descendants of the mayflower. tongue in cheek as always and magnificent as always, he tells them: you guys deprived me of my ancestors. he begins with the first native

and the fact that most of the influential american heroes are outcasts and strangers, not just in huck finn, but even in the mystery tales in that magnificent writer named raymond chandler. they are, quote-unquote, little people, ordinary people who do

and i wanted to talk about them beginning with huck finn because i think huck finn is america's literary declaration of independence. and i felt that at the end of huck finn that people started moving out and going to other landscapes of america. so babbitt becomes the anti-huck which is the standardization of thought. that is what is really threatening us today, indifference, sleeping consciousness which is all the things that is talked about. okay. and then carson -- [inaudible] and then, of course, the great, the incomparable james baldwin who was not just a writer, not just an african-american writer, not just a gay african-american writer, not just an american writer, but a writer. who speaks to all of us and who's so important today. and i think we should remember baldwin. i don't have time to go into it. and i want to end by a quote from mark twain. mark twain gives a talk to what he calls the mayflower tribes, the descendants of the mayflower. tongue in cheek as always and magnificent as always, he tells them: you guys deprived me of my ancestors. he begins with the first native

and i wanted to talk about them beginning with huck finn because i think huck finn is america's literary declaration of independence. and i felt that at the end of huck finn that people started moving out and going to other landscapes of america. so babbitt becomes the anti-huck which is the standardization of thought. that is what is really threatening us today, indifference, sleeping consciousness which is all the things that is talked about. okay. and then carson -- [inaudible] and then, of course, the great, the incomparable james baldwin who was not just a writer, not just an african-american writer, not just a gay african-american writer, not just an american writer, but a writer. who speaks to all of us and who's so important today. and i think we should remember baldwin. i don't have time to go into it. and i want to end by a quote from mark twain. mark twain gives a talk to what he calls the mayflower tribes, the descendants of the mayflower. tongue in cheek as always and magnificent as always, he tells them: you guys deprived me of my ancestors. he begins with the first native