[generally]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates

Mother of Bill Gates was named MAXWELL. From a *banking* family. Her grandfather, James Willard Maxwell (1864–1951), was president of the National City Bank in Seattle from 1911 to 1929 and a director of the Seattle branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Connection to G. Maxwell? Any genealogy buffs out there want to dig?

[generally]

Good morning, patriots!

Meme link:

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/08/the-week-in-pictures-barr-none-edition.php

PM if you want on/off this ping list or my *important Q stuff* ping list.

[Richard Kimball]

Mother of Bill Gates was named MAXWELL. From a *banking* family. Her grandfather, James Willard Maxwell (1864–1951), was president of the National City Bank in Seattle from 1911 to 1929 and a director of the Seattle branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Going back to my "Everything you read in the press is a lie" maxim, I believe most of the biographies of these famous people are fictionalized accounts. Here, I'm speaking specifically of culturally relevant people after 1950.

These stories are crafted, and often follow similar patterns. I'm still trying to piece out the elements, but they're similar to the "hero's journey."

In narratology and comparative mythology, the monomyth, or the hero's journey, is the common template of a broad category of tales and lore that involves a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed.

These fictionalized autobiographies have elements of the hero's journey, but there are some variances. I'm thinking specifically about Bill Gates, Hugh Hefner, Steve Jobs, The Beatles, Walt Disney, and a few others.

There's always a certain quirkiness to the character.

There's a "magical" turning point moment.

There are always a couple of fascinating factoids, where the narrative can be summed up easily. Think of how "oral histories" work.

The character is always an underdog.

Their insertion into society always serves as a marker to advance a narrative.

There's always a megaphone effect from the media to posterize the person.

There's another motive not revealed in the narrative.

I'm thinking right now of Hefner, who was possibly a CIA asset. No need to go into the quirky personality. Fascinating factoids: he quit Esquire because he was turned down for a five dollar raise. He put together the first issues of Playboy at his kitchen table. Magic moment, he just HAPPENED to find nude photos of Marilyn Monroe, taken by a professional photographer, who let them go for peanuts, because he didn't think there was any commercial value to nude photographs of the biggest star in the world. Advancing a narrative: gun control, insertion of porn into society, advocating ACLU, many others. Motive not revealed in narrative: A lot of famous people showed up at the Playboy mansion in an era where a revealed affair could end a career. There were cameras everywhere.

[Oratam]

Mother of Bill Gates was named MAXWELL. From a *banking* family. Her grandfather, James Willard Maxwell (1864–1951), was president of the National City Bank in Seattle from 1911 to 1929 and a director of the Seattle branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Connection to G. Maxwell

Robert Maxwell was born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch on June 10, 1923 in Czechoslovakia.

It's possible there is a connection to explain the choice of Maxwell as a new surname but I think it is doubtful that Czech refugee in post-WW2 Britain would be linked to banker in pre-war Seattle.