For the larger than life heroes throughout human history who have thought differently, fought tirelessly, and worked honestly to achieve their goals, and change what it means to be human.
When he died in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson observed that "Carl Sandburg was more than the voice of America, more than the poet of its strength and genius. He was America."
I first encountered Carl Sandburg's work my sophomore year in high school- we had a Chicago unit in my English class, and his poem "Chicago" kicked off our series of lectures on skyscrapers. I liked it, but i forgot about it. I encountered him a second time during a really difficult time, my second semester of college. I was listening to Sufjans Stevens' Illinois album, and Sandburg was prominently mentioned in my favorite song on the album at the time, Come on, Feel the Illinois. I took a much greater interest in him now, and his poetry along with Sufjan's music allowed me to see great beauty and be grateful for a state and city I was, regrettably, starting to hate. I loved his poems "Chicago", "Theme in Yellow", and "Fog". They had a really simple quality. A lot of poetry tries to be clever. Carl Sandburg is very straightforward, he paints a picture for you, then opens your eyes to a little peculiarity of the world. "Chicago", his most famous work, is a titan. That poem would make me bark like a dog. I went to the Indiana Dunes camping with my dad that spring. It was so cold, we shouldn't have been out there. I learned that Sandburg himself often left the noisy city to connect with nature at the Dunes. I started to understand the man a little better, and relate to him.
I encountered Sandburg yet again, when I took a Chicago literature class for a requirement, and I had to buy a copy of Chicago Poems. Every poem blew me away. They were like jokes, setting up an expectation then forcing you to re-examine your perspective. I got a lot out of his poems "Mags", " Dynamiter", and "Happiness". I learned about his work as an anti-capitalist reporter, his effort to record and preserve Black folk music. He was the first poet-laureat of the United States. He was a Swedish immigrant, and in a lot of ways he reminds me of my grandpa. He is extremely humble, hardworking, honest, committed to justice, a lover of the arts, and does not take himself too seriously. It's that Old Swedish sense of humor.
The Best there is, the Best there was, the Best there ever will be
Bret Hart was a professional wrestler from the mid 80s until the late 90s. He came from a family dedicated to wrestling, and I believe he understood the art like nobody else at his time. Professional wrestling, as many know, is a scripted performance. Bret was a guy who could make it look completely real- and here's the thing. In his almost 20 year career, Bret never actually hurt anybody. Wrestling is choreographed, but a slap is a slap, and getting suplexed is getting suplexed. You know what I mean?