March 2012
34 posts
11 tags
RuPaul's "Untucked"
You know by now how absorbed I am by every new season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” We are getting very close to the end of Season Four, and have our final four drag queens (although, in a not-so-surprise twist, they’re bringing back an eliminated contestant next week, just to extend our agony. And it had better not be Kenya Michaels.) Everyone has a favorite reality show / competition;...
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In memoriam: Adrienne Rich and Earl Scruggs
I’m having a John Berryman moment. Berryman, in his archival “Dream Songs,” chronicled the deaths of other poets and writers: William Empson, Delmore Schwartz. Well, two of the poets of my youth have just passed away. Adrienne Rich was a feminist confessional poet and essayist. Her writing was rich and powerful, and she inspired legions of other writers. Earl...
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Older and wiser
When I was a kid, I had no idea what the adults were talking about most of the time. I wanted desperately to figure out what was going on. In high school, and in college, I realized that – inside – I did not feel like a grownup. I was faking it. I monitored everything: what I said, what I did. And I fell short. Graduate school: even worse. I felt like a terrible poser,...
6 tags
For a departed friend
A few months ago, a friend, someone I’d known for almost twenty-five years, suddenly passed away. Friend? No, it was a far more complex relationship than that. We were co-workers first; we shared an office back in the late 1980s; there was a big partition between our desks, but we both smoked, so we could each see the smoke rising from the other side of the office, and we could...
wellthatsjustgreat asked: Thanks for the nom! I know what it is now! I was going to do a post about it but family arrived and my post got delayed! I want to do one like the one you did. It'll be up soon. Thanks again! Ag and Ducky
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The Liebster Award
I was surprised and flattered on Monday morning to receive a note from the talented Melissa Hassard, who edits and contributes to the poetry / prose / photography collective “20 Lines A Day,” telling me that she’d nominated me for something called the Liebster Award. This is a nice little accolade given to bloggers, recognizing them for their contributions. It comes with a couple...
Anonymous asked: Wouldn't you want to go to Ouagadougou just so you could say you had? It's so great to say.
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Movie review: "21 Jump Street"
Partner and I, for various reasons, were feeling in need of a nice entertaining movie on Sunday. The big movie of the weekend, of course, was “The Hunger Games,” which involves lots of nice fresh-faced teenagers killing one another, so we didn’t think that would quite entertain us in the right way. And none of the movies we’re really looking forward to (“The Three Stooges” with Sean...
4 tags
For Sunday: "The Spring," sung by Anna Russell
Yes, I know, I missed the Vernal Equinox the other day. Don’t freak out! Today (March 25) is the traditional New Year’s Day in England and Wales (until 1751, anyway). And you Tolkien fans know that a certain hobbit and a certain Gollum were struggling on a precipice within the vaults of Mount Doom on March 25 too. (Why do you think Tolkien chose that particular date? Duh!) I...
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Rick Santorum, the false prophet
I have begun sketching out little pieces about Rick Santorum several times over the past few weeks. Every time, I work myself into such a blinding fury, I short-circuit myself and go back to square one. So I will now try again. Rick Santorum is a Catholic politician from Pennsylvania. I say “Catholic” because it is important in his case. I would not, for example, say “Mitt...
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The cigarette lady
I was waiting for the University shuttle the other day when a tough-looking broad approached me. “HEY!” she said, a little too loudly. “YOU GOTTA CIGARETTE?” She moved her hand in front of her face in a smokey-smokey gesture. “No,” I murmured demurely. “I’LL PAY YOU!” she blared. I shook my head. She shrugged and turned away. There was a guy parked across the...
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The worst (and best) places to visit
Partner and I argue over places to vacation and places to retire. Partner likes warmth and comfort (Key West, Palm Springs, the south of France); I like oddball places (Timbuktu, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou). Where will we end up? I’m sure we’ll compromise. But in the meantime, here (from the Huffington Post’s travel section) is a list of the worst places to go. And how to get there....
6 tags
Corned beef brisket and champ
Partner and I are always both very hungry when we get home from work, and neither of us wants to spend an hour making something fancy. Or even half an hour. This means we eat lots of soup, lots of pasta, lots of frozen / defrostable things. But then came the slow cooker. We bought one in December, and we use it about once a week. We fill it with meat and vegetables and broth...
7 tags
All the pretty little flowers!
The weather this week has been unbelievably warm for Rhode Island in March. Monday, the last day of winter, was mid-70s and balmy; I walked to the downtown library at lunchtime and had to take off my Mister Rogers sweater when I got back to the office. (I say not a word about climate change. Not a word. I said to Partner the other evening: It’s done. There’s nothing that can be...
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Saint Joseph's Day in Providence
Today is Saint Joseph’s Day. Yes, Saint Patrick was two days ago, we know, believe me; there are lots of Irish-Americans in Rhode Island / Massachusetts. But Italians revere Saint Joseph, and today – March 19 – is a special day here. Mostly you celebrate by eating sweet Italian cream puffs called zeppole (which can be translated as “little Joes”). In my office (under the auspices of...
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For Sunday: "Burning Down the House," by Talking...
Talking Heads had just gotten famous when I got to Providence. They were students at the Rhode Island School of Design, and naturally I just missed them; they used to perform all over the place just before I got here in 1978. All I got was a bunch of wannabe cover bands singing “Psycho Killer.” Here is a nice video of a live 1983 performance of one of their iconic songs: “Burning...
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For Saint Patrick’s Day: Irish soda bread, my way
I started making this a few years ago. I’m not Irish, but Partner is one-half Irish, and he and I have been to the Auld Sod together, and we had a wonderful time there. I try to be a good wife, and it’s a traditional recipe, so – But the original recipe is dry and uninteresting. So I livened it up. (Speaking of lively: you should hear my friends Apollonia and Cathleen go at...
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I am an amazing person
We are often told that self-esteem is important. In the words of my spiritual master RuPaul: “If you don’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?” I sense, however, that the modern American capacity for self-esteem has gone hog wild. Some years ago, my boss (this was several bosses ago) completed her MBA over a period of two years or so, studying on nights...
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Jell-O
Back in January, I shared my New Year’s resolution to follow in Vanna White’s footsteps and try at least one new recipe a week.
I managed it, for a while. Then I got a little lazy, and made something I’d made before, and decided to rephrase the resolution as follows: “I will make at least one recipe (from scratch) every week – preferably something I’ve never made before – but an old and...
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I am a sentimental old fool
I think most of my friends and coworkers (and family too) think I’m pretty chilly. I can be very snide. I am unmoved by most sob stories. Disasters make me shrug. But small silly things make me tear up. One of my coworkers has lots of her kid’s drawings pinned up on her office wall. I noticed one with a big bright drawing that said, in crayon, at the bottom: LADYBUGS ARE...
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That virus that's been going around
I had a nice bout of something viral and unpleasant last October. Then I managed to catch a cold in December which lasted maybe two weeks. Then I got sick again about six weeks ago, and Partner caught it from me, and we are still both hacking and coughing like madmen. This is a bad cold season. At least we don’t have the flu. We were both vaccinated as soon as we could get...
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Obsessed with Robert Pattinson
There was a picture of Robert Pattinson in the Financial Times the other day. It was from his newly-released movie “Bel Ami”; he was looking louche and European, wearing period costume. How did the article put it?: “Here is his ‘Twilight’ impassivity – weird, lucent-eyed, fixed of stare, sullenly magnetic . . .” Naturally I brought it to lunch to show Apollonia and Cathleen. ...
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Music video: Balkan Beat Box sings "Move It"
This video took me by surprise. If you’ve never heard of the group, well, neither had I. Here’s part of their Wikipedia entry: “Co-founders Ori Kaplan and Tamir Muskat met in Brooklyn as teenagers. Both had grown up with music and Kaplan had been a klezmer clarinetist, while Muskat was a drummer in a punk rockband. They began playing together but had trouble finding a style that they...
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The reception after the memorial
I went to a memorial service a few months ago, for a person I’d known pretty well for over twenty years. It was solemn, mostly, though there were a few moments of levity. Then there was a reception afterward. It’s nice to see people you haven’t seen for a while; the mood is always lighter at these things, and people always seem to be laughing. It’s probably just relief after...
17 tags
Goodbye, New York Times
The only newspaper to which I subscribe – in the sense that there’s actually an ink-and-newsprint newspaper outside my door in the morning – is the Financial Times. I began buying it some years ago because I liked the crossword puzzle. Then, gradually, I found its dry British take on world politics far more appealing than the MacWorld version offered by American news sources, and its...
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Birds at the window
The people in my family are maybe a little psychic. Mom generally knew when I was sick, even when I was far away. At the moment my father died, I felt an odd jolt, even though I was about 250 miles away. Partner and I also share a psychic link; it mostly involves food, however. I suggested pancakes for breakfast, and he gaped at me: “Oh my god!” he said. “I was just thinking of...
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Mother Nature
I have a coworker named Amelia. I have already stolen one of her stories for this blog. I will not hesitate to steal another. Her little boy, around four years old, said recently: “Mamma, it’s winter. Why is there no snow?” She said: “Well, it’s winter, but there’s not always snow. Sometimes it snows and sometimes it doesn’t.” He asked: “What makes it snow?” She...
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Root canal
Apollonia was clutching her jaw the other day. “Broke a toof yefterday,” she lisped. “Emergency woot canal wast night. Tewwible. Dentist gave me too much Novocaine, and it didn’t wea’ off until midnight.” I find baby talk enchanting. “Poor thing,” I said. “Back in Battle Ground, Washington, in the 1960s, I had a dentist who’d worked at the state prison. He gave jumbo Novocaine...
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Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh apologized on Saturday for calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute.” Well, you could have knocked me over with a bulldozer, as Dorothy Parker said. You know the story: Fluke testified very passionately before a Democratic congressional panel about contraception as an aspect of women’s health care. Rush intemperately demonized her, making it sound as if...
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Music video: The B-52s sing "Rock Lobster"
My friend Joanne introduced me to the B-52s back in 1978. They still sound new and fresh to me. Ladies and gentlemen: “Rock Lobster.” (Look out for that bikini whale!)
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Picky eaters
Partner suggested recently that we have dinner at Greggs, a local Rhode Island family restaurant. I am in fact a Greggs Frequent Diner member (with a Double-Layer Membership!). On Mondays and Tuesdays, they have a terrific special: beverage (within reason: coffee, soft drink, domestic beer), appetizer, main course (with extras), and gigantic dessert (their specialty), for $12 - $15. You...
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Pagan activism
I was at an office meeting the other day, and one of the presenters, in the middle of an endless PowerPoint presentation, made some idle comment about the “pagan ceremony” that some of the university students were carrying out on campus. He chuckled nastily. “I shouldn’t say that,” he said. “I am given to understand that there are actually pagans here, and they might be offended.” ...
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Stuffed animals and senile dementia
I have always loved stuffed animals: they are goofy and cute and soft and they make comfortable pillows. I still have my childhood teddy bear, which (after so many decades) is now completely hideous; it sits high up on a shelf in my bedroom, in comfortable retirement, surveying everything. It saw a lot of hard work back in the 1950s and 1960s, and it needs its rest. What (or whom)...