Cast Away on the Demon Isle

 

Marguerite de la Roque was a 27-year-old wealthy landowner in the Kingdom of France who in 1542 boarded a flotilla of three ships filled with 200 people, including a few other women and children, setting sail for the New World in an attempt to once again found a colonial settlement.  Previous attempts had failed miserably, and once an entire ship disappeared into the North Atlantic, with all hands, on its way.  We will not ever know why she left her comfortable life to do that, except that the expedition was headed by her uncle (some say cousin), Jean Francois de la Roque, Sieur de Roberval, a distinguished nobleman and soldier personally selected by King Francis I to be "Lieutenant-General" of New France.  Jacques Cartier, much more able and the more obvious choice for leader, was subordinated to be ship captain and pilot.

Marguerite never made it.

 On the seven week voyage westward, she became involved with a young gentleman on board and scandalized the others, but especially embarrassed her uncle, which was a big mistake. After landing on the southern shore of Newfoundland, the Sieur Roberval decided to maroon the pregnant Marguerite, her lover and her maid Bastienne on the legendary Isle of Demons as fit punishment.  It was well-known to be infested with malignant, evil spirits and ships avoided going near it after hearing the demons' howls whirling around.  The castaways were provided with muskets and some supplies, and were last seen standing on the forlorn shore as the ships left to sail down the St. Lawrence River to the site of today's Quebec City.  Punishment was harsh in those times, especially when dealt out by someone whose entire character was stern, haughty and unyielding.  During the one-year life of the new settlement, Roberval hanged a petty thief, put miscreants in irons and whipped both men and women.  One survivor of the expedition, on his return to France, said six men were shot in one day.

While the Isle appeared on maps from 1508 to 1556, it was one of many imaginary lands portrayed not as actual discoveries but as a result of mistakes, fancy and invention or outright lies.  They did make the maps more interesting; truth in reporting was pretty secondary.  Many were set between Ireland and the coasts of North America.  One of the most fantastic was Hy-Brasil, west of Ireland, depicted repeatedly  for five centuries. The enduring legend was that a sorcerer lived there, immortal, accompanied by giant black rabbits.  You can fool some of the people...

Quirpon Island

It is thought that the actual location of the marooning was Quirpon Island, to the far north end of Newfoundland.  It is quite a way from the south shore where the ships made landfall, but there are no records to explain anything to us today.

 On the rocky island, Marguerite and her small party, in no way experienced settlers or prepared to survive winters, built a hut and shot and skinned bears for food and furs.  Scurvy, due to lack of fresh food, killed many in previous attempts at colonization in Canada, and Death had many other threats besides.  Her newborn child, her lover and her maid all died in turn, leaving Marguerite on her own.  At the end of two years, a fishing boat saw smoke rising, and conquering their deep fear of the demons, the crew rescued her after two unimaginably hard years.

Roberval met his end in Paris, beaten to death in the streets during an altercation.  Marguerite did better upon returning to her old life in France, telling her story to many wide-eyed listeners.

    

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"Feelin' Ain't Bein' "

 

You probably remember or have seen the iconic 1971 Coca-Cola television commercial about "teaching the world to sing" while sharing a Coke.  It was almost a mini-movie with a large international cast and a very cool location on an Italian hillside.  Despite being an advertisement, a brief experience generally as welcome as a pebble in your shoe, it could be called well-loved because it elicited such warm emotions, right up there with kittens, puppies and Clydesdale horses.  And once your emotions are at the forefront, your reason takes a break.  Think about that TV spot for a few moments, and all that good feeling was really about selling you a drink made of carbon dioxide, sugar, brown dye, caffeine and flavorings.  Emotional manipulation will lead or drive you to do things which are not in your best interest at all.

 The title above refers to one of the two things I remember that were on the walls of the tiny front office of WFMV-FM (classical music station in Richmond, VA, long gone).  One was a big grinning frog face ("Frog Music of Virginia" was our inside joke), the other was that hard to parse three-word aphorism.  I think our manager, Mr. Bill Massie, put it there, but I never did get the chance to ask him where it came from or really meant. I decided over the years that it meant don't be led by your emotions; use your head instead.

Scam and con artists have taken full advantage of the public this year of the viral pandemic and angry mobs at rallies and in the streets.  With all sorts of emotion engulfing us and making it hard to think clearly, we are easy targets for everyone from propagandists to ad people to that one percent of the population who are psychopaths.  And they're all very experienced at exploiting our fears and vulnerabilities.  From a recent magazine article:  Strong emotions can hijack our logical reasoning.  Fraudsters say the key to cheating people is to get them into a heightened emotional state so they can easily be manipulated.

So, what to do?  

There are ways to carefully and thoughtfully find a healthy balance to resist this onslaught.  Work on consciously repressing and controlling your negative emotions.  Back off and refresh yourself (I find nature, animals and music -- not all types, for sure -- do work).  And you, in distancing, can find some humor in others' crude attacks.  Keep your armor on. Make the effort to learn, adapt and change in order to put today's conditions into perspective and master your own reactions.  If you have a big purpose in life to propel you forward, great; if you can't quite think of one, just plant, improve or fix something. Thousands of waving flags, whether in North Korea, Nazi Germany, Red Square or on pickup trucks recently can't have any power over you if you are master of your domain (not exactly what they meant on Seinfeld, but I think that describes you in your armor).

"Listen to Your Heart"  was a popular song you probably heard on the car radio. But also know where your lane is and don't be fooled into driving into the ditch.

 

 

Go Time

 

I remember a quote from the Cold War era in which an American military official stated that while the Soviets played chess in war, the U.S. played poker.  Chess is a tactical game, where the action is visible and domination is key.  I guess that individual was thinking that flexibility gives an edge that is more difficult to counter.  Sun Tzu had a lot of insight into strategy above and beyond tactics which he developed after much experience on the ground. This sage general hasn't been proven wrong over the centuries, either.

Chinese gentlemen scholars had to master four arts:  painting, calligraphy, the guqin (a 7-string zither) and wei ch'i ("the surrounding game"), which we know as Go, after the Japanese word for it. It has a 3000 year history and a long and deep cultural influence  Someone else, I wish I remembered who, said that the revolutionary leaders of China and Vietnam understood strategy and tactics through the lens of this game.  I wonder if they had studied it at our service academies and senior colleges, whether it would have better prepared the military for Asian land wars (which General Eisenhower said we should avoid).  

Unlike chess, Go begins with an empty board with a grid of lines, the boards ranging from full-size 19"x19" to a compact 9"x9".  Black or white stones are placed in turn by either player anywhere on this grid (there are 361 intersections on the large board).  The point is to claim and expand territory, attacking weaker groups while surrounding and neutralizing your opponent's forces.  (Once placed, unlike in war, a stone cannot be moved again until it is captured). Does this maneuvering  remind you of Grant's Vicksburg campaign, the Chinese Civil War in 1948/49, Vo Nguyen Giap's victory at Dien Bien Phu or Hannibal at Cannae?  Cover the battle area with dense vegetation and mountain mist, as in Vietnam, and you have a lethal combination of Go and poker.  

There are several interesting states the play can go to in some areas of the board such as seki, or mutual life, in which neither player wants to move any of his group due to danger of capture.  Both groups remain alive but in stasis.  The Japanese term atari (sound familiar?) means a successful attack, or literally "to hit the target," when the fatal blow to a threatened group is stuck.  And there are old traditions to be observed, like picking up the stones between the fore- and second fingers, delicately and deadly like a spider moving in.

So, future strategists, don't pass Go.

 

Blocking one side at the DMZ, and attacking from one other side:  one of the principles of Go.