We Break Hustlers Hard

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When I went to Parsons I used to purposely go an hour early on trash pick-up days so I could stroll through the West Village and see what cast-off treasures people would leave on the sidewalk. Furniture, books, clothes, an amazing selection of vintage magazines... some of the spoils of those expeditions are my prized possessions. You don't see as much of that in Seattle (which I guess is fine, I have too much stuff) but this morning when I walked out of our apartment, someone had left a pretty good stash on the corner. I picked up a vintage Indian-made pith helmet like the one TR is wearing in the photo above, and a big stash of worthwhile VHS tapes including Blow Up, Weird Science, Scarface, and the one I'm most looking forward to watching:


Fuzz (1972) starring Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Jack Weston, Yul Brynner, and Seattle's own Tom Skerritt.

Finding good junk is the best way to start a day.

Image of the Day

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Quanah Parker, Chief of the Comanche, ca.1909 (photographer unknown, from the collection of the Library of Congress).

Parker is the subject of a new biography by S.C. Gwyne, Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History. I always found Quanah Parker really fascinating because of his ability to navigate the sweeping change from when the Comanche basically controlled what is now Texas and regions to its North and West, through the development of the railroad and slaughter of the buffalo, as well as the so-called Indian wars. Parker had been a great leader and defender of his homeland, and he continued to lead the Comanche as a great negotiator, a close friend and often political ally of Teddy Roosevelt.

Read Bruce Barcott's review of Gwyne's book, combined with a review of Nathaniel Philbrick's new book Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, at nytimes.com.