His daughter for a horse, Greek philosopher's fascination with pseudo-Egyptian origins, dynamite teachers who abide no nonsense, Mailer's white Negro?

Indian women's life no crystal stair . . . Riding the Oregon Trail in 1846, historian Francis Parkman was offered a woman for his horse. It was in the camp of a Plains Indian, the Dakota. The man offering the woman was her father, who coveted Parkman's mount. Parkman declined. The man already had 30 horses and was the richest man in the village. He was 300 pounds of avarice, but cheerful about it. He rode away chuckling. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Women of this tribe were trophies. Braves lolled with their favorite wives. This favorite remained at a brave's side, carrying among other things his pipe. One favorite grinned winsomely at Parkman. There was no tomorrow for her, the favorite squaw as long as her looks held out. When they left her, it was another matter.

Work in camp or village was done largely by women one or two generations past trophy status. These hags labored mightily. The men fought and hunted when need be but otherwise did nothing. The men had status, women had only what men bestowed on them.

Not out of Africa, continued . . . Did the Greeks steal Egyptians' philosophy and call it their own? Did western civilization come out of Africa? Has that fact been suppressed by racist scholars?

One problem is, how do you steal a philosophy? You steal recipes and formulas, like how to make a bomb, but a whole philosophy, which you have to make your own through study and reflection?

Well, the Egyptians did have recipes of sorts -- magic spells and potions, the Not out of Africa author, Mary Lefkowitz reports.

Still, why would Greek writers claim Egyptian origins? Egyptian culture was older than theirs, for one thing. Another thing, they knew little about it. So Greek writers would claim what they had from Egyptians.

One much-cited author was Thrice-Great Hermes, or Hermes Trismegistus, a 2nd-century A.D. author who wrote in the person of a son of an Egyptian god, following the literary custom of his day. If you were just another Greek, who would pay attention to you. But the son of an Egyptian God? This gave you importance beyond your years.

But 200 years later, the pagan philosopher Iamblichus swallowed the Hermes T. business completely. And many more hundreds of years later, it all got tied into Masonic ritual. Those Shriners in their fezes riding down Michigan Avenue? You got it, a lot of so-called Egyptian stuff there. But philosophy? The average Shriner might take offense at the very suggestion.

More later on this book . . .

Oak Park High School again . . . Getting back to the present century, we have Oak Park & River Forest High deciding how to spend $1/4 million on "academic support." Some citizens have appealed for "baseline data." Why, I don't know. Third baseline or first?

An immodest proposal, however: In pursuit of how to help flunks and other low-achieving kids, especially blacks, gather data on which feeder schools and districts do well, which do poorly. Those who do well, you commend. Those who do poorly, you talk to.

You ask them if they knew their graduates did such and such? Didn't know how to study, had never been challenged, etc. Maybe that district can work harder on study habits and otherwise tighten screws and/or motivate and inspire youngsters to be all they can be. Like the Army.

Simple enough. Start some sort of program to catch kids before they slump. Put them before dynamite teachers who abide no nonsense, applaud the achievers, console and encourage the others. This does not seem to be rocket science.

And other than "baseline data," no jargon. What do you think?

Blacks and whites separated . . . A big issue in Oak Park these days is whether the Dominick's super grocery on Lake Street can sell beer etc. The store is in the village's east third, not quite a half mile from Austin Boulevard and Chicago's huge black West Side.

Dominick's has a large black clientele but still lots of white customers too. I have never shopped there without seeing someone white that I knew. The blacks I saw were almost all strangers to me. I share the assumption that Dominick's draws much business from the black West Side. Why wouldn't it?

Anyhow, in newspaper discussion about it, one of the village trustees, who is black if you look real close, rather mildly observed that not just poor service but the store's preponderance of black customers "may have an effect on people's perceptions." Meaning white people, and again, why wouldn't it?

Most whites are more comfortable with whites than with blacks, and vice versa. That I will confidently propose with no baseline data to speak of. Why do you think there are black dorms on college campuses? Those black students choose to live with other blacks because they are more comfortable among blacks.

It takes a combination of confidence, guts, and adventurousness to cross the color line. Frankly, I have found it more interesting to shop at Dominick's on Lake Street than at the River Forest Jewel a mile and a half to the west. There are black shoppers at both stores but far more at Dominick's. The climate is different.

When I'm on edge and looking for comfort, I go to that mostly white Jewel. When I'm up for a challenge, I go to the Dominick's. And I'm no white Negro either, to use (adapt?) Norman Mailer's term of the '50s. I like being me, which is white. But I also like interesting situations.