The Lehman Trilogy

Our friend saw this play in London and recommended we get on it before it sells out here. It is the history of the Lehman Brothers from the time the 3 brothers set foot in America until the bankruptcy of 2008. It is a 3 act play, hence trilogy in the title and it is almost a three and a half hour play.

I really did not know the full story until seeing the play. The three brothers come from Germany in the 1850’s on different boats. They moved down south to become cotton middlemen, a new term and concept that became the foundation for the wealth that lasted generations. They were always one step ahead seeing the opportunities they had to get into before everyone else. Entrepreneurs.

What struck me is how they evolved over the generations from people who actually cared about the local economy, the communities that they were part of and building industry until they got into the world of trading cash and making money on the vig.

Unfortunately that attitude has got us to where we are today with serious wealth on one side and everyone else. It is disturbing. It is especially upsetting to see people running each political party who seem to be extremely out of touch with what is happening in America today. They aren’t listening to the issues such as the fear of climate change, the desire for overall change, the dislike of both Democrat and Republican parties and so much more. They too seem more interested in holding on to their power than representing the people that got them there.

The NY Times put out a section called the American 2024. It is a variety of pieces including songs and plays written by artists that have never been published before. The Kids on the Lawn is particularly incredible and intriguing. The pieces are written by Michael R. Jackson; Manic-Depressive Monday to Climate Change, to Post-Millennial Kids, to ‘Cause They Were Republican and Blow It Up. Jackson is writing about something we should be paying a lot more attention to. As the divide gets bigger, eventually something is going to give. What and when I am not sure but it is bound to happen as history repeats itself.

This one below is Manic-Depressive Monday but I highly recommend reading them all here.

MANIC-DEPRESSIVE MONDAY

In which one national nightmare ends and another begins in the wake of a new presidential election. Three postmillennials assemble during their break from their work making crap that nobody wants or needs, singing — sometimes in unison, sometimes in harmony.

THREE POSTMILLENNIALS
We’re still just as broke
We’re still just as miserable
We’re still just a huddled mass
The only difference now is the music on the runway
It’s just another manic-
Depressive Monday
For the hungry, hungry poor and middle class

We’re still just as lost
And even more invisible
And even more out on a limb
The only difference now is we’ve pawned all our illusions
We’ve muted all our mentions
And drawn our conclusions
Tomorrow’s tea leaves look pretty grim

The marches, the tweets, the online petitions
The hard-won cancellations by multiracial coalitions
We’ve squelched a so-called fascist reascent
With dragging and wokeness and weaponized walling
We’ve helped elect a new president

But we’re still just as broke
We’re still just as miserable
We’re still just a huddled mass
The only difference now is the music on the runway
It’s just another manic-
Depressive Monday
For the hungry, hungry poor and middle class