The Trump Slump

Going to the U.S.?

    You may not have read the recent article found under the headline announcing that the Canadian Girl Guides were no longer traveling to the U.S. and you may not realize there are 70,000 of them along with about 20,000 guiders. There have been other recent articles about the cancellation of school trips which involve even larger numbers. Students from Toronto and Windsor will not be viewing cherry blossoms this year and the decline in visits to the United States is now being called the “Trump Slump” - an unintended, but predictable consequence of the various restrictions on travel imposed by the Trump administration.

   Many in Canada are probably not visiting because of the Canadian loonie not the American ones. School trips are being cancelled out of fear that an entire busload may be turned around because a few swarthy students are aboard. Others are opting out because of the stories of visitors now being more rigorously questioned and delayed or detained at airports.  Let’s face it: the border agent inhaling your exhaust at a bleak border crossing, seeing your sunny smile and hearing that you are going to golf on Hilton Head is hardly likely to be more welcoming these days.

  Perhaps you deprived yourself of time in the sun during March Break because you are a principled person who does not wish to support, in any way, the current regime. An article in the Toronto Star suggests that you should boycott, take a stance and not go. But, if you are still undecided about heading south you should read a recent article in Maclean’s which makes a good case that such boycotting doesn’t work.

Sources:

“Girl Guides of Canada Suspend Trips to U.S. Citing Border Concerns,” Hina Alam, Toronto Star,  March 13, 2017

“Time to Boycott Vacations to the U.S.” Mark Bulgutch, Toronto Star, Jan. 30,2017

“There’s no need to start a campaign. Just make a personal decision to avoid the United States whenever you can as long as the cruelty persists.”

“They’re Not Worth Doing, They’re Not Worth Opposing, and They Won’t Change Much,” Nick Taylor-Vaisey Maclean’s, March 10, 2017.

“Toronto Schools to Cease Field Trips to U.S.” Craig S. Smith, The New York Times, March 24, 2017.

‘Like 9/11 All Over Again’: Canadians Grow Fearful of Crossing the Border,” Catherine Porter, The New York Times, Feb. 13, 2017.

“The Trump Slump? Tourists say They're Scared to visit the United States, Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times, Mar. 12, 2017,

“An economic consulting firm that has crunched the numbers from various airline and travel booking websites projects that the U.S. will lose 6.3 million visits by the end of next year, which translates into $10.8 billion in spending. What the firm, Tourism Economics of Wayne, Pa., is calling “Trump-induced losses” could affect an estimated 90,000 Americans whose jobs are directly or indirectly dependent on tourism.”

“It doesn’t take very much uncertainty or antipathy to influence decisions away from a given travel destination,” said Adam Sacks, the firm’s president. “Ultimately, destinations and companies are in the business of building a brand and a message that is welcoming .… All the ‘America first’ rhetoric in various policy areas like trade, diplomacy and immigration is conveying the exact opposite.’’

“Among the cities that stand to lose the most are New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco. New York expects to lose 300,000 foreign tourists this year, a big worry because it is foreigners who drop the big money, spending about four times as much as domestic tourists, according to officials.” [these quotations are all from the Demick article cited above].

Much Ado About NOTHING

Blank Books

   We have yet another occasion to think, “Why didn’t I think of that?” That is, we have been scooped, yet again, by someone who, yet again, has come up with the idea of publishing a book that consists of blank pages. Apparently books of this sort are both easier and cheaper to produce than the other kind.

    Those of you on the right side of the political spectrum will quickly understand why the book below is appealing, devoid of content and selling well these days.

    Apparently quick-witted, left-wing ‘writers’ have responded with such titles as Reasons To Vote For Republicans: A Captivating Interpretation and, the perhaps more complex, Reasons to Vote for Republicans: An Incomprehensible Guide. In an age of instant publishing such titles are likely to quickly multiply. Self publishers can also be creative and one has already contributed to the genre with Everything Obama Knows About the Economy.

    Evidence of such erudition is, of course, to be found also in England, where this “exhaustively researched” book was produced a few months ago. Not surprisingly, given the subject, it has no content.

   Remarks and reviews have been mostly favorable and here are a few samples:

“A well-researched, well-written and 100% accurate catalog of Mr. Trump's greatest strengths,” a customer named Michael Coles wrote. “People have read it, and let me tell you, they love it. It's the best book. It's going to be yuuuuuge. Bigly.”

“Very, very, yugely poor translation from original Russian,” Nancy Gormezano added. “And that's Putin it mildly. Maybe kindle version be better?”

    The Brits, once again, of course, have a long tradition of producing learned tomes of this sort. A few years ago an enterprising chap published What Every Man Thinks About Apart from Sex which obviously contained nothing. It holds the Guinness Book of Records record in the category for the published book with the most blank pages. He even sold the translation rights and then came up with the idea of producing a book with nothing but grey pages of various shades which bore the clever title Fifty Shades of Grey.  Although the title was slightly different, the publishers of Fifty Shades of Gray were not amused.

Searching For Nothing

    Now, in addition to wondering why you didn’t think of publishing books like these, rather than attempting to find the words to actually write one, you are probably wondering how I know all of this. How does one find books about nothing? That was my question when I ran across the new blank book since I distinctly remember one from the past. Unfortunately that was all I remembered, so I guess I should have said ‘vaguely remember’ rather than ‘distinctly’. What would one search for and how could even a good googler avoid long lists consisting of books such as Being and Nothingness, which contains nothing but really big words some of which are from a different language, or books by nihilists which are also often about nothing?

    Unfortunately for you, I am not going to reveal the complex search strategy that was used to find the book which you will certainly recognize, but which you would not have been able to find without my assistance. On the other hand, perhaps you would have simply remembered the title.

The Nothing Book

     There were also offspring: The Nothing Album; The Nothing Notebook; The Next to Nothing Book; The Nothing’s Happening Book, and supposedly a Son of Nothing was in the works. Thousands of copies of the book were sold and reviewers were happy because having to read nothing made their jobs easier. Here are some sample reviews:

“A Book You Can Put Down,” by Angela Taylor, New York Times, June 27, 1974.

The first sentence: “What can you say about a book that is virtually unreadable?”

It concludes: This reviewer can safely say that it is the lightest reading of this or any other summer.” It was published by Harmony Books, had 192 blank pages and cost $3.

“Nothing Ventured, Something Gained:The World of Writers,” Herb Kenny, Boston Globe, July 7, 1974. In this review some spinoff subjects are suggested:

The Compassion of Pawnbrokers

The Ethics of Slum Landlords

The Humility of Norman Mailer

The Shyness of Don RIckles

The Generosity of Banks

“And Nothing's Plenty for Me: The Nothing Book : Wanna Make Something of It?”, Richard Freedman, The Washington Post, Aug. 25, 1974.

“The Nothing Book is a heartening response to the print explosion. It is a first-rate piece of minimal art, going far beyond the plays of Beckett, the sculptures of Giacometti or the music of John Cage. At a time of dismaying slovenliness of production by most publishers, it has not one typographical error.”

Plagiarism and Nothingness

    You are likely thinking that perhaps you might try a Canadian version of such a book and wonder if nothing can be plagiarized. The question “Can Nothing Be Plagiarized?” was asked back in 1974 by a Belgium publisher who had published a blank book a few years before -The Memoirs of an Amnesiac - and thought The Nothing Book was just a ripoff of their idea.

    Nothing appears to have come of the case so go ahead and type up a title.

Joy in Mudville

Golfing in London

    It was announced in the London Free Press today that the municipal golf courses will be opening on April 4. That is good news since the assumption is that spring is near, although most of us will likely watch more golf than play it until well after the magnolias have bloomed at the Masters. It is good news, as well, that the courses still exist since about a half-dozen years ago the city considered selling them. One of them, Thames Valley, is particularly pretty and as advertised, is actually in a valley along a river. Even the game of golf does not spoil a walk around it.

Thames Valley in the 1930s

    I mention all of this because I ran across an article from almost 80 years ago which indicates that the City Fathers (and they probably all were), were no wiser back then, although the need for cash for the city was probably greater given that this was the during the ‘Dirty Thirties’. Here is what a columnist had to say about the proposed sale:

Let’s hope that golfers in London, Ontario, will rally round to keep the civic fathers from doing any more than just considering the closing of that city’s famous municipal course at Thames Valley and selling the land. The 27 hole Thames layout is probably the finest municipal links in Canada, and no less an authority than Gene Sarazen a few years ago described it as one of the finest public courses in North America.

  Thames Valley’s case is the old story of a low-fee public club being the developing ground and feeder for private clubs. Business at Thames Valley has been slumping ever since the new Sunningdale course was opened, and, although the municipal course has never cost the ratepayers a cent in taxes, storm signals have been sent up by the Public Utilities Commission, which operates the links. Thousands of golfers throughout Ontario who have enjoyed the Thames test of golf, as well as its scenic beauty, will doubtless join the writer in hoping that this fine course can be saved.

(“Diggin' Divots At the 19th,” Roche, Bill. The Globe and Mail, Sept. 30, 1937, p.19.)

   I found the Sarazen description interesting and wondered why and when he might have visited Thames Valley. I learned that he was here in 1933 as the photograph below indicates and it was probably because he played in the Canadian Open that year, which was won by the Aussie in the photo - Joe Kirkwood. Apparently Sarazen won the match at Thames.

From left to right, Joe Kirkwood, Sandy Sommerville, Gene Sarazen and Jack Nash pose for a photo on the first tee Of Thames Valley prior to their opening day match. July 29, 1933.

    All of this information is provided by John Cowie and can be found in his book: From Rough to Fairway: The First 85 Years of the City of London Golf Courses. An excerpt of the book (along with the photo above) is found on this website: History of London and Area Golf Courses, with which Mr. Cowie is associated.

    Anyone interested in golf in this area should have a look at History of London and Area Golf Courses. It answered for me this question which I have often asked: “Wasn’t there a golf course on Gainsborough Road, on the north side before you get to Hyde Park?” The answer is “Yes”.

Additional sources:

    Information about the proposed sale of some or all of the courses back in 2011:

“City May Sell off One Golf Course ; London Assets: Revenues are Declining and a Report Says the Market is Overbuilt”, Patrick Maloney, The London Free Press, Sat. Jan. 15, 2011.Page: A3.

“Give Links Away, City Told ; Public Golf Courses: A Realtor Says Unloading Courses Would Be More Profitable For the City, But Others Say That’s Not the Answer to a Saturated Market,” Jennifer O’Brien, The London Free Press, Jan. 17, 2011, p.A1.

A response to the above: Letters to the Editor Column, The London Free Press

Sat Jan 22 2011 Page: E3. This good letter by Mr. Phil Gingrich offers strong reasons for keeping the municipal courses.

    The 1933 article by Mr. Roche was found in The Globe and Mail, as indicated. I am not sure what was written at that time in the London newspaper about the proposed sale since it is only available on microform.

    Mr. Roche, by the way, was born in Forest and worked for a time at the London Advertiser. He later joined the staff of The Globe and Mail and worked there until his retirement in 1958. He covered hockey as well as golf and wrote: The Hockey Book: The Great Hockey Stories of all Time, Told by the Men Who Knew the Game the Best. For an obituary see: “W.V. (Bill) Roche: Book Told Anecdotes About NHL Players, The Globe and Mail, June 26, 1962, p.30

    He is buried just up the river from Thames Valley in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.