This "Russia hacked the election" meme seems to be dying down, since apparently they didn't, and since Trump doesn't seem to be leaning especially pro-Russian.
People just seemed to leap at this meme, which never had a lot of evidence. It recalls the pragmatic theory of truth, which is that truth is that which works, often understood to mean that truth is whatever works right now, tomorrow be damned.
The trouble is,
Tomorrow will come,
And made-up truths
Will look kind of dumb.
Saturday, July 08, 2017
Thursday, July 06, 2017
GOP
They promised to repeal and replace,
But never said with what.
They never thought they'd win that race!
Now egg goes splatter on the face.
They stutter: but, but, but...
But never said with what.
They never thought they'd win that race!
Now egg goes splatter on the face.
They stutter: but, but, but...
Wednesday, July 05, 2017
Monday, July 03, 2017
Virtual Travels
The New Yorker has an article: An Agoraphobic Photographer’s Virtual Travels, on Google Street View
That's one way to enjoy the view.
And it's a whole lot cheaper, too.
That's one way to enjoy the view.
And it's a whole lot cheaper, too.
Sunday, July 02, 2017
Orwell Your Orwell
I heard David Ramsay Steele talking about his new book, Orwell Your Orwell: A Worldview on the Slab. I bought a copy, too, but have just read the preface so far.
This was a real labor of love for Ramsay Steele, who has been working on this book, off and on, for twenty years. It sounds like it's the most careful delineation of what Orwell actually thought and believed. Of course, his political views changed over time. At least once, in the case of whether it was a good idea to go to war with the NAZIs, they changed overnight.
Ramsay Steele thinks that Orwell ws never really controversial, as such, in the sense that Orwell's views generally mapped to views that were held by a large part of the British Left, at any given time. He's not saying that Orwell always followed the majority views of the British Left, but that his views were at least in line, at any given time, with some substantial minority.
He thinks Orwell's lasting legacy is his attack on totalitarianism, which had a real impact over time.
Orwell, himself, remained a socialist, but an anti-totalitarian. He thought the government should own everything, but that there should be freedom throughout the land. I know, somehow that never seems to work out compatibly.
Ramsay Steele aims to dissect
Orwell's worldly views
Which did indeed change to reflect
Evolving world news.
This was a real labor of love for Ramsay Steele, who has been working on this book, off and on, for twenty years. It sounds like it's the most careful delineation of what Orwell actually thought and believed. Of course, his political views changed over time. At least once, in the case of whether it was a good idea to go to war with the NAZIs, they changed overnight.
Ramsay Steele thinks that Orwell ws never really controversial, as such, in the sense that Orwell's views generally mapped to views that were held by a large part of the British Left, at any given time. He's not saying that Orwell always followed the majority views of the British Left, but that his views were at least in line, at any given time, with some substantial minority.
He thinks Orwell's lasting legacy is his attack on totalitarianism, which had a real impact over time.
Orwell, himself, remained a socialist, but an anti-totalitarian. He thought the government should own everything, but that there should be freedom throughout the land. I know, somehow that never seems to work out compatibly.
Ramsay Steele aims to dissect
Orwell's worldly views
Which did indeed change to reflect
Evolving world news.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Celebrity Pinnacle
His tweets are immature,
But I fear they will endure.
It's part of his routine,
To act like Mr. Mean.
After all, why would he stop?
This role has got him to the top.
But I fear they will endure.
It's part of his routine,
To act like Mr. Mean.
After all, why would he stop?
This role has got him to the top.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Monday, June 26, 2017
Russian Philosophy
I finished Russian Philosophy by Copleston.
I sort of have 2 reasons for reading it.
My first reason is that I'm aiming to plow through Copleston's complete history of philosophy, of which this is one of the volumes, but one of the volumes which isn't included in the big monster-set I have of it. I think because it came later. Wikipedia lists the component volumes like this:
Volume 1: Greece and Rome
Volume 2: Augustine to Scotus
Volume 3: Ockham to Suarez
Volume 4: Descartes to Leibniz
Volume 5: Hobbes to Hume
Volume 6: Wolff to Kant
Volume 7: Fichte to Nietzsche
Volume 8: Bentham to Russell
Volume 9: Maine de Biran to Sartre
Volume 10: Russian Philosophy
Volume 11: Logical Positivism and Existentialism
In this scheme, I've only done 1 & 10.
But, hey,
That's two elevenths out of the way!
My second reason is that I'm planning to re-read Sciabarra's book, Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical. And I figured I should actually do a little homework so I had some context when Sciabarra starts talking about the philosophical traditions Rand would have been exposed to most in her formative years.
So that's why, having finished volume 1, I jumped ahead to 10. I have to admit, that I know enough of this stuff so that the Copleston material is mostly not really fresh to me. He's a good writer, so it's not actually boring, but it's a fairly fast read as philosophy goes. Thank goodness he writes so clearly!
Philosophical history
Doesn't need to be a mystery.
I sort of have 2 reasons for reading it.
My first reason is that I'm aiming to plow through Copleston's complete history of philosophy, of which this is one of the volumes, but one of the volumes which isn't included in the big monster-set I have of it. I think because it came later. Wikipedia lists the component volumes like this:
Volume 1: Greece and Rome
Volume 2: Augustine to Scotus
Volume 3: Ockham to Suarez
Volume 4: Descartes to Leibniz
Volume 5: Hobbes to Hume
Volume 6: Wolff to Kant
Volume 7: Fichte to Nietzsche
Volume 8: Bentham to Russell
Volume 9: Maine de Biran to Sartre
Volume 10: Russian Philosophy
Volume 11: Logical Positivism and Existentialism
In this scheme, I've only done 1 & 10.
But, hey,
That's two elevenths out of the way!
My second reason is that I'm planning to re-read Sciabarra's book, Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical. And I figured I should actually do a little homework so I had some context when Sciabarra starts talking about the philosophical traditions Rand would have been exposed to most in her formative years.
So that's why, having finished volume 1, I jumped ahead to 10. I have to admit, that I know enough of this stuff so that the Copleston material is mostly not really fresh to me. He's a good writer, so it's not actually boring, but it's a fairly fast read as philosophy goes. Thank goodness he writes so clearly!
Philosophical history
Doesn't need to be a mystery.
Lullaby
I sang the babe a silly sort of song,
A tune to soothe his agitated breast,
With syllables serene. It wasn't long
Before he shut his eyes in easeful rest.
An infant listens steadily to streams
Of language that he cannot comprehend.
It is a strange procedure, but it seems
To overcome the challenge in the end.
The human ear seeks out the human voice.
We dream it when in fact it is not there.
In solitude the hermit will rejoice
At whispering winds that visit his lone lair.
In silence we can hear our beating hearts.
But soon our craving for some lyrics starts.
A tune to soothe his agitated breast,
With syllables serene. It wasn't long
Before he shut his eyes in easeful rest.
An infant listens steadily to streams
Of language that he cannot comprehend.
It is a strange procedure, but it seems
To overcome the challenge in the end.
The human ear seeks out the human voice.
We dream it when in fact it is not there.
In solitude the hermit will rejoice
At whispering winds that visit his lone lair.
In silence we can hear our beating hearts.
But soon our craving for some lyrics starts.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Sunday, June 18, 2017
More Than Anyone Wants To Know
Old notes I came across today, oddly tying in with yesterday's post about my father's birthday party:
I don't expect that many people will be interested in my development, particularly my early development, as a poet. But it interests me, so I am writing it down because I am curious about it myself, and believe I might get a better grip on it by committing it to words.
I grew up in a household where one of my role models periodically wrote humorous, clever, well-rhymed verse. This was my father. I would listen at the dinner table, reciting and sometimes discussing the technical mechanics of verse making. As I recall the form of the Limerick came under particular discussion. I listened closely.
My great Aunt Vera, on my mother's side, was also a writer of verses. As I recall hers ranged more toward the heartfelt and sentimental. So I thought of poetry writing as a noteworthy activity that some normal people engaged in.
I mentioned that I listened closely to my father's thoughts on versification, so perhaps this is a good place to insert some mention of the fact that I had trouble talking as a young child, a trouble that was rooted, at least in part, in having trouble distinguishing some routine English phonemes. I can remember not being able, for instance, to distinguish the sound of This from Dis. This was not because everyone around me said "dis" although perhaps some did. Here's another, different example of my problem. I could not pronounce the word YES properly. I had some problem with the Y and some problem with the S as well. I remember it as extremely frustrating and embarrassing. As the years wore on, I mastered these phonemes, but at a self conscious level that involved really listening to how people spoke.
I think this made me more focused on the sound of words at a conscious level than most kids usually are. In later grade school I was actually better at phonetic analysis than my peers. I imagine it was a form of overcompensation for whatever was "off" in my original linguistic capabilities. I suspect that this overcompensation is one of the factors that drove me to writing and to poetry in particular.
The first poems I remember writing was a fourth grade school assignment. Our teacher wrote a single line on the blackboard: Do you like the sun?
We were supposed to take that as a starting line and write a poem.
Do you like the sun
And the stars that it passes?
....
And its fiery hot gases?
That's all I remember - 3 lines from the first quatrain. It went on for several quatrains more, exploring various facets of the solar system.
Two of us were chose for special acclaim by the teacher. The other student had taken a totally different approach.
Do you like the sun
Or do you like the moon?
He went on to compare the virtues of day and night.
This contrast of approaches - equally valid interpretations of the first line - struck me profoundly. I began to glimpse how a simple line of poetry can go off in very different directions. It's hard to say why this was experienced as such an epiphany, but it was.
The next poem I remember is one I wrote in my freshman year of high school. It was written to make fun of our elderly theology teacher, Father Lauer. It was written for the amusement of my classmates and included a lot of in-joke references to some of the peculiarities of his teachings. I recall the first quatrain.
God is syllogism.
Religion's diagrams.
Support the Lauer schism.
Pray in traffic jams.
I also remember the last 2 lines;
Just cheat, cheat, cheat,cheat, cheat
And you will get an A.
I wouldn't expect that to mean anything to anyone now, but it was wildly popular with my classmates, one of whom reproduced the poem and spread it around. It did fall into the hands of at least one other teacher who gave us a talking to, and who learned in the process that I was the satirist.
That same year, my freshman year in high school, I began looking seriously at modern, free verse poetry for the first time and puzzling over what it was about, and in particular puzzling over what made it different than prose. Were they really poems at all? I asked. One poem baffled me even more, Grasshopper by e.e. cummings, which just seemed to involve the letters of the word GRASSHOPPER arranged around the page in unpronounceable configurations that visually suggested a grasshopper hopping around. Our English teacher told us something like it was really a poem but we weren't ready to understand it. This bothered me no end.
I recall being puzzled also by our high school literary magazine, which was loaded with free-verse stream-of-consciousness stuff.
I studied the content of these poems, and wrote a poem on their model. It was a poem about drifting of to sleep, and I wrote it in a breathless style of successive drifting thoughts. It was not accepted for publication, but I heard later that the editors had wondered whether it was a parody. I suppose, in retrospect, they might have thought my "falling asleep" theme was a commentary on my level of interest in their poetry.
I think it was that summer that I read the book that really got me interested in poetic analysis. This book was The Design Of Poetry, which I found at the public library. I found the book riveting. The author did line by line analysis of a variety of poems. Specifically, I recall Because I Could Not Stop For Death, by Emily Dickinson, Ozymandias, by Shelley, and that poem about eating plums by William Carlos Williams.
The author was lined up, more or less, with the New Criticism school of interpretation, so he was quite keen on finding ironies and ambiguities in the text. I was quite taken with the analysis, particularly with the very close reading and very close analysis of metaphor and simile. It really was one of those books that changed my life.
The author had a theory about what made something poetry, something like writing designed for no purpose but its own contemplation. This easily included free verse. Later I decided it was an inadequate, over-inclusive definition, but for now it sufficed. I also started reading more poetry as an independent habit. I recall being most struck by 2 poets: Emily Dickinson, and Kenneth Patchen. Among moderns, I was partial to the Beat poets: Patchen, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Corso. As an individual poet, I was impressed with Lenore Kandel, who published a single book of poems. Among classics, aside from Dickinson, I liked Blake for his short lyrics.
The Beats appealed to me in part because their meaning was manifest and strongly emotional.
I began writing free verse poems, continued writing rhymed poems, and also wrote some poems that combined the 2 modes.
By my Junior year, I was on the high school literary magazine, which had a new faculty advisor, a young Jesuit who was a big fan of Dylan Thomas. He did not care for free verse, said it didn't sound like anything in particular. I argued the other side of this case, but didn't feel I had that great a case, and wondered if I was wrong.
This brings me, roughly, to the development of my interest in Ayn Rand's philosophy. This had an immediate effect on my poetry writing in several ways.
Stylistically, the element of her thought that had the biggest effect was her withering analysis of the modernist revolution in art. She actually had only a few passing remarks about poetry. But I began to think that maybe free verse was in a class with non-representational painting and plotless novels. So I channeled my efforts into verse with more form to it.
A second stylistic impact came from her emphasis on clarity. I had been taught that good poetry was ambiguous. Now I was working with the idea that good poetry should be clear.
Shortly before getting really interested in Rand, I had been started on a study of William Butler Yeats. I was very impressed and he came to be another influential favorite for me.
----------------
This brings us to the start of my high school senior year.
It's already too much stuff, I fear,
But fortunately, it does end here.
I don't expect that many people will be interested in my development, particularly my early development, as a poet. But it interests me, so I am writing it down because I am curious about it myself, and believe I might get a better grip on it by committing it to words.
I grew up in a household where one of my role models periodically wrote humorous, clever, well-rhymed verse. This was my father. I would listen at the dinner table, reciting and sometimes discussing the technical mechanics of verse making. As I recall the form of the Limerick came under particular discussion. I listened closely.
My great Aunt Vera, on my mother's side, was also a writer of verses. As I recall hers ranged more toward the heartfelt and sentimental. So I thought of poetry writing as a noteworthy activity that some normal people engaged in.
I mentioned that I listened closely to my father's thoughts on versification, so perhaps this is a good place to insert some mention of the fact that I had trouble talking as a young child, a trouble that was rooted, at least in part, in having trouble distinguishing some routine English phonemes. I can remember not being able, for instance, to distinguish the sound of This from Dis. This was not because everyone around me said "dis" although perhaps some did. Here's another, different example of my problem. I could not pronounce the word YES properly. I had some problem with the Y and some problem with the S as well. I remember it as extremely frustrating and embarrassing. As the years wore on, I mastered these phonemes, but at a self conscious level that involved really listening to how people spoke.
I think this made me more focused on the sound of words at a conscious level than most kids usually are. In later grade school I was actually better at phonetic analysis than my peers. I imagine it was a form of overcompensation for whatever was "off" in my original linguistic capabilities. I suspect that this overcompensation is one of the factors that drove me to writing and to poetry in particular.
The first poems I remember writing was a fourth grade school assignment. Our teacher wrote a single line on the blackboard: Do you like the sun?
We were supposed to take that as a starting line and write a poem.
Do you like the sun
And the stars that it passes?
....
And its fiery hot gases?
That's all I remember - 3 lines from the first quatrain. It went on for several quatrains more, exploring various facets of the solar system.
Two of us were chose for special acclaim by the teacher. The other student had taken a totally different approach.
Do you like the sun
Or do you like the moon?
He went on to compare the virtues of day and night.
This contrast of approaches - equally valid interpretations of the first line - struck me profoundly. I began to glimpse how a simple line of poetry can go off in very different directions. It's hard to say why this was experienced as such an epiphany, but it was.
The next poem I remember is one I wrote in my freshman year of high school. It was written to make fun of our elderly theology teacher, Father Lauer. It was written for the amusement of my classmates and included a lot of in-joke references to some of the peculiarities of his teachings. I recall the first quatrain.
God is syllogism.
Religion's diagrams.
Support the Lauer schism.
Pray in traffic jams.
I also remember the last 2 lines;
Just cheat, cheat, cheat,cheat, cheat
And you will get an A.
I wouldn't expect that to mean anything to anyone now, but it was wildly popular with my classmates, one of whom reproduced the poem and spread it around. It did fall into the hands of at least one other teacher who gave us a talking to, and who learned in the process that I was the satirist.
That same year, my freshman year in high school, I began looking seriously at modern, free verse poetry for the first time and puzzling over what it was about, and in particular puzzling over what made it different than prose. Were they really poems at all? I asked. One poem baffled me even more, Grasshopper by e.e. cummings, which just seemed to involve the letters of the word GRASSHOPPER arranged around the page in unpronounceable configurations that visually suggested a grasshopper hopping around. Our English teacher told us something like it was really a poem but we weren't ready to understand it. This bothered me no end.
I recall being puzzled also by our high school literary magazine, which was loaded with free-verse stream-of-consciousness stuff.
I studied the content of these poems, and wrote a poem on their model. It was a poem about drifting of to sleep, and I wrote it in a breathless style of successive drifting thoughts. It was not accepted for publication, but I heard later that the editors had wondered whether it was a parody. I suppose, in retrospect, they might have thought my "falling asleep" theme was a commentary on my level of interest in their poetry.
I think it was that summer that I read the book that really got me interested in poetic analysis. This book was The Design Of Poetry, which I found at the public library. I found the book riveting. The author did line by line analysis of a variety of poems. Specifically, I recall Because I Could Not Stop For Death, by Emily Dickinson, Ozymandias, by Shelley, and that poem about eating plums by William Carlos Williams.
The author was lined up, more or less, with the New Criticism school of interpretation, so he was quite keen on finding ironies and ambiguities in the text. I was quite taken with the analysis, particularly with the very close reading and very close analysis of metaphor and simile. It really was one of those books that changed my life.
The author had a theory about what made something poetry, something like writing designed for no purpose but its own contemplation. This easily included free verse. Later I decided it was an inadequate, over-inclusive definition, but for now it sufficed. I also started reading more poetry as an independent habit. I recall being most struck by 2 poets: Emily Dickinson, and Kenneth Patchen. Among moderns, I was partial to the Beat poets: Patchen, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Corso. As an individual poet, I was impressed with Lenore Kandel, who published a single book of poems. Among classics, aside from Dickinson, I liked Blake for his short lyrics.
The Beats appealed to me in part because their meaning was manifest and strongly emotional.
I began writing free verse poems, continued writing rhymed poems, and also wrote some poems that combined the 2 modes.
By my Junior year, I was on the high school literary magazine, which had a new faculty advisor, a young Jesuit who was a big fan of Dylan Thomas. He did not care for free verse, said it didn't sound like anything in particular. I argued the other side of this case, but didn't feel I had that great a case, and wondered if I was wrong.
This brings me, roughly, to the development of my interest in Ayn Rand's philosophy. This had an immediate effect on my poetry writing in several ways.
Stylistically, the element of her thought that had the biggest effect was her withering analysis of the modernist revolution in art. She actually had only a few passing remarks about poetry. But I began to think that maybe free verse was in a class with non-representational painting and plotless novels. So I channeled my efforts into verse with more form to it.
A second stylistic impact came from her emphasis on clarity. I had been taught that good poetry was ambiguous. Now I was working with the idea that good poetry should be clear.
Shortly before getting really interested in Rand, I had been started on a study of William Butler Yeats. I was very impressed and he came to be another influential favorite for me.
----------------
This brings us to the start of my high school senior year.
It's already too much stuff, I fear,
But fortunately, it does end here.
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Ninety
My father turned 90 yesterday. We had a big party today. His cake had just one candle. I read this poem. At his law firm, when there was a ceremonial event calling for the writing of humorous verse, they always asked him to write a "limerick" for the occasion. Yes, that's how this talent came to me.
In the firm where he once practiced law
It is clear that his partners all saw
That this man could coerce
English words into verse
With a humor that left them in awe.
I learned lots of things while in school
But none quite so well as the rule
That the third and fourth line
In a limerick's design
Must be short, or you sound like a fool.
He supported us all with his earning
And tried to pass on his vast learning,
So let's give a cheer
To this great dad, right here
Today while his candle is burning.
In the firm where he once practiced law
It is clear that his partners all saw
That this man could coerce
English words into verse
With a humor that left them in awe.
I learned lots of things while in school
But none quite so well as the rule
That the third and fourth line
In a limerick's design
Must be short, or you sound like a fool.
He supported us all with his earning
And tried to pass on his vast learning,
So let's give a cheer
To this great dad, right here
Today while his candle is burning.
Art of Acting
It is a magic moment. Actors speak,
And what were merely words upon a page,
Bare characters that lay there, listless, weak,
Leap forth with sudden strength upon the stage.
And what were merely words upon a page,
Bare characters that lay there, listless, weak,
Leap forth with sudden strength upon the stage.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Front Yard
Mama and baby bunny
Under the cherry tree.
When I got closer - it's funny -
They ran away from me.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
NYC
Flew into NYC around 4pm, got to a 5pm meet-and-greet read-through of my play, All Mixed Up, which is playing at the Fresh Fruit Festival July 14-16th. I'm currently booked on 2 delayed flights out of LaGuardia and I'm taking whichever leaves first.
Despite the rigors of travel
I have not yet begun to unravel.
Despite the rigors of travel
I have not yet begun to unravel.
Monday, June 12, 2017
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Format Follies
I've been puzzling over an invoice I got in an email, with an invoice date of 3/6/2017 and a due date of 10/6/2017.
Why, in June, would a company send me an invoice dated March, that isn't owed until October?
Figured it out today, when I got an overdue notice. It's obvious if you don't live in the U.S., I suppose. Those are June dates - it's that foreign date format!
I was taken in, I fear
by the dreaded day/month/year!
Why, in June, would a company send me an invoice dated March, that isn't owed until October?
Figured it out today, when I got an overdue notice. It's obvious if you don't live in the U.S., I suppose. Those are June dates - it's that foreign date format!
I was taken in, I fear
by the dreaded day/month/year!
Old Phrase
Why does the Department of the Interior
Mostly deal with stuff that's out of doors?
I ponder but my brain is growing wearier.
It's a mystery that the media ignores!
Mostly deal with stuff that's out of doors?
I ponder but my brain is growing wearier.
It's a mystery that the media ignores!
Thursday, June 08, 2017
Parodying T. S. Eliot
I shall wear red and white striped trousers
And walk along the beach.
I have heard the journalists calling each to each:
"Comey scanned his browsers
And has enough to impeach!"
But after testimony,
That promise seems to be phony.
The story ends with a whimper, not a screech.
- from the Trump Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
And walk along the beach.
I have heard the journalists calling each to each:
"Comey scanned his browsers
And has enough to impeach!"
But after testimony,
That promise seems to be phony.
The story ends with a whimper, not a screech.
- from the Trump Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Wednesday, June 07, 2017
Translation
One dog word for humans
Means "wise monkey"
But another one translates
As "poop pick up flunky".
Means "wise monkey"
But another one translates
As "poop pick up flunky".
Tuesday, June 06, 2017
The McKinley Mansion, As We Called It
My father's house is empty. He has moved into a retirement village place, and is selling the house. Family members took a lot of stuff from the house, a big 3-story Victorian. Then we had an estate sale. Then we had people fill up a dumpster. And a second dumpster is on order. But, right now, the house is empty. All the furniture, all the stuff, gone. It reminds me, very much, of the first time I saw the house, when we were moving in, in 1966.
My father's house is empty - vacant halls
Echoing with my mother's vanished calls
My father's house is empty - vacant halls
Echoing with my mother's vanished calls
Monday, June 05, 2017
Back to New York
My play, All Mixed Up, which ran in Fall 2016 in Chicago, is set to be included in the Fresh Fruit Festival in NYC in July 2017.
It's still a bit in flux, but I signed and mailed the contract today.
So I guess once again I'm on my way
To Gotham to put on a play.
It's still a bit in flux, but I signed and mailed the contract today.
So I guess once again I'm on my way
To Gotham to put on a play.
Sunday, June 04, 2017
Playwright Reception
This charming theater festival in Heartland had a playwright reception, which gave the six attending playwrights a chance to interact a bit with the evening's audience. That was new for me. Playwrights, as a group, aren't the most sociable people. Writers tend to be introverts - extroverts aren't so interested in sitting alone and making up stuff in their heads.
A frequent audience question is where do you get your ideas?
I wish I knew
The how and where
But some arrive
From thin air.
That can't be true
But how in fact
They really do...
Is inexact.
A frequent audience question is where do you get your ideas?
I wish I knew
The how and where
But some arrive
From thin air.
That can't be true
But how in fact
They really do...
Is inexact.
Escape from New York
I attended a play festival in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois last night, basically because I had a ten-minute play in the festival.
I was struck by the high percentage of people there who had lived in Queens.
Me, of course. I lived in Kew Gardens for a while in the seventies. An audience member near me, the mother of another playwright, was originally from Jackson Heights, although she now lives in the North Carolina. And Vicky Snyder, an actress in my play, was originally from Jackson Heights, although she now lives in the Bloomington-Normal area.
So, basically, just overhearing things, I found 2 other former Queens residents. Is it just a quirky coincidence?
It occurred to me that New York is a very strong theater town, and that early habits die hard, so that maybe you can expect to find ex-New Yorkers in disproportionate concentrations in the world of American small-city theater.
It occurred to me that people flee New York. People swarm in there, people swarm out there - there's a lot of churn.
Lots of people from Queens.
I'm not sure what it means.
You can give my theories a glance
But probably it's just chance.
I was struck by the high percentage of people there who had lived in Queens.
Me, of course. I lived in Kew Gardens for a while in the seventies. An audience member near me, the mother of another playwright, was originally from Jackson Heights, although she now lives in the North Carolina. And Vicky Snyder, an actress in my play, was originally from Jackson Heights, although she now lives in the Bloomington-Normal area.
So, basically, just overhearing things, I found 2 other former Queens residents. Is it just a quirky coincidence?
It occurred to me that New York is a very strong theater town, and that early habits die hard, so that maybe you can expect to find ex-New Yorkers in disproportionate concentrations in the world of American small-city theater.
It occurred to me that people flee New York. People swarm in there, people swarm out there - there's a lot of churn.
Lots of people from Queens.
I'm not sure what it means.
You can give my theories a glance
But probably it's just chance.
Saturday, June 03, 2017
Spooky Sound
My Labrador lets out a howl
Whenever a siren goes by.
It's one long continuous vowel,
Sung out with the throat lifted high.
Whenever a siren goes by.
It's one long continuous vowel,
Sung out with the throat lifted high.
128 Miles
Drove to Normal, Illinois.
Are you a fan of flat?
I'll tell you, boy oh boy,
We've got a lot of that.
Are you a fan of flat?
I'll tell you, boy oh boy,
We've got a lot of that.
Thursday, June 01, 2017
Sign of the Times
Apparently the sign painters did half the job, and took a break. Reportedly they played this same prank 20 years ago.
Really, it's pointless fuss,
But next time start with SUSS.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Monday, May 29, 2017
Ridge Run Results
Well, today's 10k + 5k local extravaganza hasn't posted official online results yet, and I know I got thoroughly beat because there were a lot of fast people there. It was a "CARA Circuit" race, which attracts the city's speedy set. But I had a good time, and good times, for me.
After the an earlier forecast of off-and-o rain, we got nothing but sunshine for a beautiful day in the neighborhood. When I was done running, I actually joined the Memorial Day Parade down Longwood Drive, stepping in with the contingent from Council Oak Montessori, an institution dear to my heart.
There were speakers at the park, emphasizing the historical meaning of the day - honoring the war dead. I've noticed a drift away from remembering that - even though the holiday's name means remembering.
Fighters who died for the USA,
I bow my head for you today.
After the an earlier forecast of off-and-o rain, we got nothing but sunshine for a beautiful day in the neighborhood. When I was done running, I actually joined the Memorial Day Parade down Longwood Drive, stepping in with the contingent from Council Oak Montessori, an institution dear to my heart.
There were speakers at the park, emphasizing the historical meaning of the day - honoring the war dead. I've noticed a drift away from remembering that - even though the holiday's name means remembering.
Fighters who died for the USA,
I bow my head for you today.
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Cutting Branches
The funny thing about using the chainsaw is that I am always reluctant to start, because the thing scares me, but once I start I enjoy the activity. It does keep me very focused.
A quote from Donald Hamilton kept floating through my mind: "Don't monkey with the buzz saw when it's busy cutting wood."
Now that I've googled it, I see that it's some kind of old saying, at least the first clause is.
Think before you stick your paw
Anywhere near a buzzing saw.
A quote from Donald Hamilton kept floating through my mind: "Don't monkey with the buzz saw when it's busy cutting wood."
Now that I've googled it, I see that it's some kind of old saying, at least the first clause is.
Think before you stick your paw
Anywhere near a buzzing saw.
Friday, May 26, 2017
The One And The Many
I'm almost done with the first volume in Copleston's History of Philosophy, the one on Greece and Rome. Copleston pauses, before the index appears, to look back at the world of ancient philosophy, and he mentions the issue of "the one and the many" as a key theme.
In the middle ages it became the "problem of universals".
The problem, the issue, is that we deal in particulars, but we perceive generalities. How can that be? You can say that we are pattern-recognizing beings. As are lots of animals. But we carry it to extremes. And we've even gotten to the point where we can build machines that mimic, in some ways, our ability to pick out patterns.
So we recognize them, but why are they there to be recognized? Why is reality such that patterns always emerge when you look for them? Granted, it's hard to imagine an unpatterned reality - a reality without rules, without regularity, a reality consisting of nothing but chaos.
In a reality without rules
The wisest would be fools.
In the middle ages it became the "problem of universals".
The problem, the issue, is that we deal in particulars, but we perceive generalities. How can that be? You can say that we are pattern-recognizing beings. As are lots of animals. But we carry it to extremes. And we've even gotten to the point where we can build machines that mimic, in some ways, our ability to pick out patterns.
So we recognize them, but why are they there to be recognized? Why is reality such that patterns always emerge when you look for them? Granted, it's hard to imagine an unpatterned reality - a reality without rules, without regularity, a reality consisting of nothing but chaos.
In a reality without rules
The wisest would be fools.
Thursday, May 25, 2017
Ridge Run at Forty
There's a local 10k that's celebrating its 40th anniversary. I've been running it since 1983. I missed it one year since then. It's the first road race I ever did, so I kind of keep time by it - it's a fixture in my life, a ceremonial start of summer since it occurs on Memorial Day. Doing the math, I see that I have run this race 32 times so far - half the years of my life.
All those miles
Under my feet,
Sometimes bitter
Often sweet.
All those miles
Under my feet,
Sometimes bitter
Often sweet.
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
States of Direction
The Carolinas are South and North.
What's more, the Dakotas are much the same.
Why must the Virginias sally forth
With just one direction attached to their name?
Let's call one East Virginia - we ought!
Pattern it after the one we call West,
Which now sounds too much like an afterthought.
Balance in naming would be for the best.
What's more, the Dakotas are much the same.
Why must the Virginias sally forth
With just one direction attached to their name?
Let's call one East Virginia - we ought!
Pattern it after the one we call West,
Which now sounds too much like an afterthought.
Balance in naming would be for the best.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Indoor Tri Report
I had fun doing the indoor triathlon this morning at the West Loop Athletic Club. I was BY FAR the oldest participant. It was mostly club members in the club's triathlon training program, I think.
I checked my personal race log afterward, and it looks like the last time I did an indoor tri was in 1996.
Well, that was a while back.
I need to pick up the slack!
I checked my personal race log afterward, and it looks like the last time I did an indoor tri was in 1996.
Well, that was a while back.
I need to pick up the slack!
Why They Are Called Sea Lions
There's some very vivid video of this at the link, scary but with a happy ending.
Some people were throwing food to a sea lion from a pier.
"But when the girl sits at the edge of the harbor to get an even closer look, the animal springs up grabs a hold of her dress and forcefully yanks her backward into the water as onlookers scream in horror."
A man jumped in immediately and lifted her out of the water.
Girl was scared but fine.
Think twice before you cross the line
Of enticing critters with food.
Predators can be rude.
Some people were throwing food to a sea lion from a pier.
"But when the girl sits at the edge of the harbor to get an even closer look, the animal springs up grabs a hold of her dress and forcefully yanks her backward into the water as onlookers scream in horror."
A man jumped in immediately and lifted her out of the water.
Girl was scared but fine.
Think twice before you cross the line
Of enticing critters with food.
Predators can be rude.
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Indoor Tri Signup
I'm signed up for an indoor triathlon tomorrow. We will be competing to see who can go the farthest, while, really, we're mostly exercising in place.
You see, we will swim laps for 10 minutes in a pool, spin pedals for 15 minutes on stationary bikes, and then gallop 15 minutes on treadmills.
The winner is whoever goes the farthest, measured in miles I think, trusting the electronics on the bikes and treadmills to give you virtual miles, and adding in the actual distance covered in the lap swimming.
But your whole time exercising is limited to 40 minutes, which is why I recommend this to anyone who wants to try triathlon but who is worried that they will simply not be able to complete one of the three legs. Most often it's the swim they're worried about. The beauty of this format is that you are practically guaranteed to finish. So you slow down on the swim - so you stop and stand up in the pool to catch your breath - so what? You're still going to finish in just 10 minutes total time, just like everybody else.
Also - there are no temptations to spend big bucks in this format. Expensive wetsuit? Not allowed! Expensive bicycle? Nope. Use the same stationary bike everyone else does!
And the weather? No worries about thunderstorms or heat!
Triathlons always involve some stress,
The indoor format involves much less.
You see, we will swim laps for 10 minutes in a pool, spin pedals for 15 minutes on stationary bikes, and then gallop 15 minutes on treadmills.
The winner is whoever goes the farthest, measured in miles I think, trusting the electronics on the bikes and treadmills to give you virtual miles, and adding in the actual distance covered in the lap swimming.
But your whole time exercising is limited to 40 minutes, which is why I recommend this to anyone who wants to try triathlon but who is worried that they will simply not be able to complete one of the three legs. Most often it's the swim they're worried about. The beauty of this format is that you are practically guaranteed to finish. So you slow down on the swim - so you stop and stand up in the pool to catch your breath - so what? You're still going to finish in just 10 minutes total time, just like everybody else.
Also - there are no temptations to spend big bucks in this format. Expensive wetsuit? Not allowed! Expensive bicycle? Nope. Use the same stationary bike everyone else does!
And the weather? No worries about thunderstorms or heat!
Triathlons always involve some stress,
The indoor format involves much less.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
The Dogs File A Report
We saw no raccoons
Tonight on our walk.
Smell them, we did,
And did eagerly stalk
Their traces across
The grass of the lawn
Their stealthy claws
Had crept upon.
Tonight on our walk.
Smell them, we did,
And did eagerly stalk
Their traces across
The grass of the lawn
Their stealthy claws
Had crept upon.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
The Psychopath Not Taken
Fairly interesting article entitled "When Your Child Is a Psychopath" from the Atlantic.
This doesn't do the article justice, but here is what came to me by way of partial summarization:
If your kid was born this way
Punishment won't work
To train the murderous jerk -
At least that's what these experts say.
Reward, they claim, works fine,
At getting the heartless to toe the line.
This doesn't do the article justice, but here is what came to me by way of partial summarization:
If your kid was born this way
Punishment won't work
To train the murderous jerk -
At least that's what these experts say.
Reward, they claim, works fine,
At getting the heartless to toe the line.
Monday, May 15, 2017
Sunday, May 14, 2017
The Same Snail Can Celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day?
Straight Outta Wikipedia:
'Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which either partner can act as the "female" or "male".'
Cornu Aspersum (garden snails)
Are all females as well as males.
So how do they ever reproduce?
It's hard to say they're acting loose,
Since none can escape their horny shell.
You might even call it courtship hell.
'Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which either partner can act as the "female" or "male".'
Cornu Aspersum (garden snails)
Are all females as well as males.
So how do they ever reproduce?
It's hard to say they're acting loose,
Since none can escape their horny shell.
You might even call it courtship hell.
Friday, May 12, 2017
What Else Is New?
I fear that many puritans
Have a hypocritical streak.
They're good at preaching sermons,
But they find their flesh is weak.
Have a hypocritical streak.
They're good at preaching sermons,
But they find their flesh is weak.
Thursday, May 11, 2017
OPEC Problem
CNN Money headline: OPEC to U.S.: Please don't pump so much oil!
I would say that my heart bleeds for them, but would sound snarky, wouldn't it?
When a big producer
Won't join a cartel
The price-fixing doesn't
Function so well.
I would say that my heart bleeds for them, but would sound snarky, wouldn't it?
When a big producer
Won't join a cartel
The price-fixing doesn't
Function so well.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Stand Up Guy
They fired my homie,
Director Comey!
(Everyone wanted to end him,
So I decided to friend him.)
Director Comey!
(Everyone wanted to end him,
So I decided to friend him.)
Monday, May 08, 2017
Cis-Het Et Cetera
Cis-het is contemporary academic slang for cisgender heterosexual, and cisgender itself is contemporary academic usage for non-transgender.
In Latin, I'm told, the opposite of trans is cis. Well, in some contexts, anyway.
When I was in college, the polite term was transsexual. But that's rude or worse now.
For some reason, most people turn out cis-het.
They'll continue to do so. At least that's my bet.
I do expect these terms to change again.
I guess it's safe to use them until then.
In Latin, I'm told, the opposite of trans is cis. Well, in some contexts, anyway.
When I was in college, the polite term was transsexual. But that's rude or worse now.
For some reason, most people turn out cis-het.
They'll continue to do so. At least that's my bet.
I do expect these terms to change again.
I guess it's safe to use them until then.
Sunday, May 07, 2017
Against Translation
I'm working on a theory that translation
Promotes cultural appropriation
And is therefore as problematic
As an old hula doll in your grandma's attic.
It may be that translation is protected by some amendment, possibly the first,
But of all forms of appropriation, cultural is the worst,
So I propose to discourage it, by keeping each and every foreign word
Away from American children- let no bon mots be heard!
Promotes cultural appropriation
And is therefore as problematic
As an old hula doll in your grandma's attic.
It may be that translation is protected by some amendment, possibly the first,
But of all forms of appropriation, cultural is the worst,
So I propose to discourage it, by keeping each and every foreign word
Away from American children- let no bon mots be heard!
Saturday, May 06, 2017
Trek for Tech 5k
I ran a 5k this morning, one that was put on by a Catholic parish school, The Infant Jesus of Prague, in Flossmoor, Illinois. Very nice people. It's a small 5k. I had looked up results from some prior year, and I had seen that NO ONE had run in the 60-69 male age bracket. So I figured I would be alone in my bracket. But when I got there I noticed another white haired guy, and he took off ahead of me, and stayed ahead of me, even though I was actually running pretty well. Basically, I was running nines, and he was running eights. So I thought I had probably taken second place, and thought I would get a medal for that.
Well, it's a small race, and they were only giving medals out for first place in these age bands that could span 20 years. But then it turned out that the other white haired guy was in the 40-59 age band.
So I did take first place in the male sixties group. I thought to myself, well, you were the only guy in the group, you were number one in a group of one. But later I got the online results, and I was number one in a group of five, two of whom were pretty close behind me. The second place guy was running at a pace I often race at. But I was a bit faster than usual today, and so I just stayed ahead of him, without even knowing it, without making any particular effort to beat him.
I did lots of wrongful assuming.
Luckily, I was zooming.
Well, it's a small race, and they were only giving medals out for first place in these age bands that could span 20 years. But then it turned out that the other white haired guy was in the 40-59 age band.
So I did take first place in the male sixties group. I thought to myself, well, you were the only guy in the group, you were number one in a group of one. But later I got the online results, and I was number one in a group of five, two of whom were pretty close behind me. The second place guy was running at a pace I often race at. But I was a bit faster than usual today, and so I just stayed ahead of him, without even knowing it, without making any particular effort to beat him.
I did lots of wrongful assuming.
Luckily, I was zooming.
Friday, May 05, 2017
Another Shot
Another shot from Tuesday's opening show.
You've four more chances, if you want to go.
Once again, that's Whitney Pipes and Kate Moss, playing a couple of police detectives with a lot to talk about. The conversation only goes on for ten minutes, but it doesn't work out so well for one of them.
I know there's a more famous Kate Moss, who's a model or something, but this is Kate Moss the ACTRESS, from Chicago.
If and when she becomes an international star,
I hope they don't change her name to something bizarre.
Thursday, May 04, 2017
Move!
Just now, while waiting for the train, there was a little backender on the road at the crossing. And the car sort of sat there as the bells were ringing and the gates were coming down and the train was blowing its horn.
I assume the driver was sort of stunned and unsure what to do.
The people at the station were yelling and waving to the driver to pull off the track. And the train, still approaching, was continuing to sound its horn, and finally the car moved out of the way.
I think the train was far enough away that it still had time to stop.
When you're on the tracks and the train is coming, move!
Your odds for life will improve.
I assume the driver was sort of stunned and unsure what to do.
The people at the station were yelling and waving to the driver to pull off the track. And the train, still approaching, was continuing to sound its horn, and finally the car moved out of the way.
I think the train was far enough away that it still had time to stop.
When you're on the tracks and the train is coming, move!
Your odds for life will improve.
Wednesday, May 03, 2017
Empathy Festival
The festival opened last night. It consists of nine pieces by nine different writers so it's the sort of situation where you are likely to like some and be less appreciative of others. The performances were strong.
Performances begin at nine o'clock.
It's nine by nine at nine,
Which sounds kind of late but it worked out fine!
Performances begin at nine o'clock.
It's nine by nine at nine,
Which sounds kind of late but it worked out fine!
Monday, May 01, 2017
Saturday, April 29, 2017
Hiss
While running on the trail today
I met a snake along the way,
And watched while he stuck out his licker
And made it flicker.
I met a snake along the way,
And watched while he stuck out his licker
And made it flicker.
Friday, April 28, 2017
Aloft
You sit on a plane at thirty thousand feet, seemingly suspended motionless over a field of cotton candy clouds, that stretch to the blue horizon. You examine the engine just outside your window, and you can't make out any movement there at all. The sun is shining brightly and it looks warm enough to the eye. But you press your skin to the window and it's definitely cool to the touch. You can almost imagine climbing out the window and riding legs astraddle on the engine. But you know that the "wind" would knock you right off, and you know that your fall would not end on the cushiony cotton candy, but would instead continue straight through that foggy gauze to the hard ground further below.
And so you decide
To refrain
From climbing outside
The plane.
And so you decide
To refrain
From climbing outside
The plane.
400 Grand
Retired politicians should take
Whatever Wall Street offers.
I'm sure they all need to make
Cash to replenish their coffers.
Whatever Wall Street offers.
I'm sure they all need to make
Cash to replenish their coffers.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Dionysus Writes
I've been reading Dionysus Writes: The Invention of Theatre in Ancient Greece, by Jennifer Wise. Its standout thesis is that there's a reason why the Greeks didn't have theater until they had a working alphabet - namely, that you need popular literacy for the practice of theater to blossom.
The older Greek poetry was from a more purely oral tradition - the epics and the lyrics, Homer & Sappho & company. You just needed one performer for these things - one specialized virtuoso of memory. Storytelling is an art as old as humanity, and it includes some acting, but it doesn't involve actors exactly.
In theory you can imagine Prometheus Unbound being composed orally, and taught orally to actors. In theory. But the technology of an easily teachable alphabet made it much more feasible.
To get theater right
In practice you need
Playwrights who write
And actors who read.
The older Greek poetry was from a more purely oral tradition - the epics and the lyrics, Homer & Sappho & company. You just needed one performer for these things - one specialized virtuoso of memory. Storytelling is an art as old as humanity, and it includes some acting, but it doesn't involve actors exactly.
In theory you can imagine Prometheus Unbound being composed orally, and taught orally to actors. In theory. But the technology of an easily teachable alphabet made it much more feasible.
To get theater right
In practice you need
Playwrights who write
And actors who read.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Strange New First Amendment
Freedom of speech should be less
For folks who cause distress
By daring to disagree
With me.
For folks who cause distress
By daring to disagree
With me.
Running the Muddy Trails
I ran a 5k in the woods yesterday. Some portions of the course were extended mud puddles, so my socks got a bit muddy.
The tough thing about a trail running is that it really is more hazardous than pavement running. You can slip in the mud, trip on a root, all that kind of thing.
The fun thing about trail running is the challenge and the sense of being out in the great natural unevenness of things.
They say running on uneven surfaces is good for your ankle strength - if you can keep from twisting them.
Here's my number one tip:
Try not to trip.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Free Will Microchips
Scott Adams has a blog post, "You Don’t Have Free Will – but You Might Get It Someday".
He claims we don't have free will, based on at least 2 different arguments. The first is "laws of physics" and the second is "we follow our strongest urge at any given moment". In his mind they run together as one. The laws of physics generate those urges and we obey.
But, he says, what if we could insert microchips to control our brains? Wouldn't we have more freedom then? We could use reason now to control urges later!
I thought of Odysseus, of course, who wanted to hear the sirens' call and survive, and who had himself tied to the mast of his ship, and had all his crew stuff their ears with wax.
I thought of Aquinas, of course, who warned men to avoid the "occasion of sin" - to structure their lives so that they were not led into temptation.
Rational people have always found ways to fight
The tyranny of appetite.
He claims we don't have free will, based on at least 2 different arguments. The first is "laws of physics" and the second is "we follow our strongest urge at any given moment". In his mind they run together as one. The laws of physics generate those urges and we obey.
But, he says, what if we could insert microchips to control our brains? Wouldn't we have more freedom then? We could use reason now to control urges later!
I thought of Odysseus, of course, who wanted to hear the sirens' call and survive, and who had himself tied to the mast of his ship, and had all his crew stuff their ears with wax.
I thought of Aquinas, of course, who warned men to avoid the "occasion of sin" - to structure their lives so that they were not led into temptation.
Rational people have always found ways to fight
The tyranny of appetite.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Bodies
I've been noticing a very annoying new usage, wandering in from the academic world, of referring to people as bodies. Live people. In all apparent seriousness. I have the vague idea this comes from Foucault, a French guy I haven't really read.
I mean, I might say "the room was packed with warm bodies". But that's being funny.
Here's a standout example:
"Many infertile bodies are bodies who, like Miller and myself, delayed childbearing..."
I assume it is intended to be jarring, to refer to oneself that way, some kind of in-your-face materialism.
I assume also that it is insider lingo to those in the know.
I think there's something cloddy
About calling a person a body.
I mean, I might say "the room was packed with warm bodies". But that's being funny.
Here's a standout example:
"Many infertile bodies are bodies who, like Miller and myself, delayed childbearing..."
I assume it is intended to be jarring, to refer to oneself that way, some kind of in-your-face materialism.
I assume also that it is insider lingo to those in the know.
I think there's something cloddy
About calling a person a body.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Art Crisis Du Jour
The bull was there first, on Wall Street. Then someone threw the girl in, to make a combination set of figures. The combo is supposed to be about feminist aspirations. But I don't think that's how it actually "reads" if you just look at it with unbiased eyes.
To me, this scene looks scary.
It's fine to be brave, but be wary.
I'm fearful this kid will get gored.
Somebody give her a sword!
Monday, April 17, 2017
Fraternal Of Course
In the anonymously sourced news from Jackson, Mississippi:
This Married Couple Took a DNA Test and Discovered They Are Biological Twins
Both adopted...
Same date of birth...
Similar looking...
For what it's worth,
I really think
They might have guessed
Even without
That fertility test.
Thanks Merjet!
Oh, Snopes thinks it's fake...
This Married Couple Took a DNA Test and Discovered They Are Biological Twins
Both adopted...
Same date of birth...
Similar looking...
For what it's worth,
I really think
They might have guessed
Even without
That fertility test.
Thanks Merjet!
Oh, Snopes thinks it's fake...
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Blessed Pilate?
I was reading a nice Easter piece by Kevin Williamson, and I came across this:
"In the Ethiopian church, Pilate is revered as a saint..."
I had no idea, so that sent me off on an investigation online.
Anyway, it's a complicated story, but just tracking the Ethiopian Church, there's a text they seem to be following, The Martyrdom Of Pilate, which I don't recall hearing of, but which has Pilate becoming a Christian and getting crucified:
'The blessed Pilate began to pray while hanging on the cross, and said : " O my Lord, I have polluted your holy cross by the hanging of my body on it, because it is a pure wood and my body is an impure body..."'
In this variant story,
Pilate dies in glory.
"In the Ethiopian church, Pilate is revered as a saint..."
I had no idea, so that sent me off on an investigation online.
Anyway, it's a complicated story, but just tracking the Ethiopian Church, there's a text they seem to be following, The Martyrdom Of Pilate, which I don't recall hearing of, but which has Pilate becoming a Christian and getting crucified:
'The blessed Pilate began to pray while hanging on the cross, and said : " O my Lord, I have polluted your holy cross by the hanging of my body on it, because it is a pure wood and my body is an impure body..."'
In this variant story,
Pilate dies in glory.
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Lois Lerner Again
You may recall that Lois Lerner, who used to work for the IRS, took the fifth in front of Congress when they asked her about the agency's treatment of would-be tax-exempt tea-party organizations.
For some reason, she's willing to testify now, in some civil case having to do with the same thing, but she wants to keep her testimony secret, on account of threats she has received:
'“Mss. Lerner and Paz have demonstrated that the public dissemination of their deposition testimony would expose them and their families to harassment and a credible risk of violence and physical harm,” they said in documents submitted by their lawyer to Judge Michael R. Barrett.'
I'm nosy, so I hope this all ends up in the open, but I'm very curious as to WHY she is willing to testify now, when she couldn't testify before, on account of maybe incriminating herself.
My problem is that I know just enough law, learned at the dinner table mostly, to be perennially curious about the peculiar workings of our legal system.
There's always an explanation of some sort
For all the strange things that go on in court.
For some reason, she's willing to testify now, in some civil case having to do with the same thing, but she wants to keep her testimony secret, on account of threats she has received:
'“Mss. Lerner and Paz have demonstrated that the public dissemination of their deposition testimony would expose them and their families to harassment and a credible risk of violence and physical harm,” they said in documents submitted by their lawyer to Judge Michael R. Barrett.'
I'm nosy, so I hope this all ends up in the open, but I'm very curious as to WHY she is willing to testify now, when she couldn't testify before, on account of maybe incriminating herself.
My problem is that I know just enough law, learned at the dinner table mostly, to be perennially curious about the peculiar workings of our legal system.
There's always an explanation of some sort
For all the strange things that go on in court.
Friday, April 14, 2017
Branding
Yoga is not nearly the pure Hindu thing a lot of people think it is, but if you attend enough classes you do tend to hear some Eastern spirituality stuff.
You might think that's fine...
"But at Benedictine College — a small and strongly Catholic liberal arts school in Atchison, Kan. — yoga classes per se will soon be yo-gone, out of apparent concern that use of the word “yoga” suggests advocacy for Hindu mysticism."
They're keeping the classes, but you might say they're rechristening them.
A pose by any other name
Will stretch your body just the same.
You might think that's fine...
"But at Benedictine College — a small and strongly Catholic liberal arts school in Atchison, Kan. — yoga classes per se will soon be yo-gone, out of apparent concern that use of the word “yoga” suggests advocacy for Hindu mysticism."
They're keeping the classes, but you might say they're rechristening them.
A pose by any other name
Will stretch your body just the same.
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Short Plays Daze
I'm in the happy position of having three different ten-minute plays awaiting production for three different festivals.
And I'm not involved in the productions at all. That's very pleasant, insofar as I don't have to buy stuff, solve logistics problems, etc. But it's frustrating not to be watching rehearsals in advance of the show. I like rehearsals. It's where a lot of the creative side of acting takes place.
In rehearsal the actor designs
A plan for performing her lines.
And I'm not involved in the productions at all. That's very pleasant, insofar as I don't have to buy stuff, solve logistics problems, etc. But it's frustrating not to be watching rehearsals in advance of the show. I like rehearsals. It's where a lot of the creative side of acting takes place.
In rehearsal the actor designs
A plan for performing her lines.
Working The Bugs Out
Not a good day for this airline:
"The same day a passenger was infamously dragged off a United plane in Chicago, a man on a United flight from Houston to Calgary was allegedly stung by a scorpion."
The scorpion fell from an overhead bin
And stung somebody who touched him.
Alas, we must contact the bug's next of kin.
A flight attendant flushed him.
"The same day a passenger was infamously dragged off a United plane in Chicago, a man on a United flight from Houston to Calgary was allegedly stung by a scorpion."
The scorpion fell from an overhead bin
And stung somebody who touched him.
Alas, we must contact the bug's next of kin.
A flight attendant flushed him.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Doc Dragged Off Jet
I am entranced by the video of the doc being dragged, bloody and belly-exposed, off the United Jet.
It seems, to me
To hold a mystery.
To start with, why does he let out that strange wail as soon as the cop reaches for him? If it happened like that on stage, I would say it was unrealistic.
To middle with, how exactly does his face get bloody? Has the cop purposely banged his head, or was it some kind of stupid accident? There was a very early announcement from the Chicago Police Department that said the man had "fallen". But it turns out that wasn't an "official" announcement. And the cop in question works for the Aviation Department, not the Police Department. Anyway, we've heard nothing directly from the cop who pulled him out of the seat. He's on leave.
To end with, how does he end up on the plane again, after he has been dragged off, still bleeding, saying something about "Please kill me."?
I have no explanation. But I want one!
This strange airplane eviction,
In which his face got cracked,
Would not work well as fiction,
But there it is, in fact.
It seems, to me
To hold a mystery.
To start with, why does he let out that strange wail as soon as the cop reaches for him? If it happened like that on stage, I would say it was unrealistic.
To middle with, how exactly does his face get bloody? Has the cop purposely banged his head, or was it some kind of stupid accident? There was a very early announcement from the Chicago Police Department that said the man had "fallen". But it turns out that wasn't an "official" announcement. And the cop in question works for the Aviation Department, not the Police Department. Anyway, we've heard nothing directly from the cop who pulled him out of the seat. He's on leave.
To end with, how does he end up on the plane again, after he has been dragged off, still bleeding, saying something about "Please kill me."?
I have no explanation. But I want one!
This strange airplane eviction,
In which his face got cracked,
Would not work well as fiction,
But there it is, in fact.
Monday, April 10, 2017
MCC and Me
I work near a bunch of federal buildings, but one in particular, the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center, attracted my eyes today.
First, at lunchtime:
Triangular correctional facility.
Escaping it requires some agility.
And, yes, it has been escaped. Twice!
Then, on my evening walk to the train station:
On trees outside the jail
The flowers do not fail
To recognize that Spring
Is now the thing.
First, at lunchtime:
Triangular correctional facility.
Escaping it requires some agility.
And, yes, it has been escaped. Twice!
Then, on my evening walk to the train station:
On trees outside the jail
The flowers do not fail
To recognize that Spring
Is now the thing.
Saturday, April 08, 2017
Gene Editing Weirdness
Unexpected results:
'Rosenthal and Eisenberg found that RNA editing is especially rife in the neurons of cephalopods. They use it to re-code genes that are important for their nervous systems—the genes that, as Rosenthal says, “make a nerve cell a nerve cell.” And only the intelligent coleoid cephalopods—octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish—do so. The relatively dumber nautiluses do not. “Humans don’t have this. Monkeys don’t. Nothing has this except the coleoids,” says Rosenthal.'
Octopi edit their RNA.
But as to why, they will not say.
'Rosenthal and Eisenberg found that RNA editing is especially rife in the neurons of cephalopods. They use it to re-code genes that are important for their nervous systems—the genes that, as Rosenthal says, “make a nerve cell a nerve cell.” And only the intelligent coleoid cephalopods—octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish—do so. The relatively dumber nautiluses do not. “Humans don’t have this. Monkeys don’t. Nothing has this except the coleoids,” says Rosenthal.'
Octopi edit their RNA.
But as to why, they will not say.
Thursday, April 06, 2017
Wet Weather
We've got the lake in our backyard again.
Really it's just a few of inches of standing water. But when this happened last week, our neighbor's basement flooded with 4 inches of water. So I hope that doesn't happen again!
Four inches is enough
To ruin lots of stuff
That's sitting on the floor.
And cleaning's a soggy chore!
Really it's just a few of inches of standing water. But when this happened last week, our neighbor's basement flooded with 4 inches of water. So I hope that doesn't happen again!
Four inches is enough
To ruin lots of stuff
That's sitting on the floor.
And cleaning's a soggy chore!
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
Eureka
"As he was brushing his teeth on the morning of July 17, 2014, Thomas Royen, a little-known retired German statistician, suddenly lit upon the proof of a famous conjecture at the intersection of geometry, probability theory, and statistics that had eluded top experts for decades."
Officially retired
But brain still got inspired.
Officially retired
But brain still got inspired.
Sunday, April 02, 2017
Mysteries Solved
The X-ray revealed
Why his tummy was sore
And where he had lost
Those dentures he wore.
Why his tummy was sore
And where he had lost
Those dentures he wore.
Saturday, April 01, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Voluminous
A quart is so close to a liter,
Why don't we make them the same?
Conversions would be so much neater,
And we could get rid of one name!
Why don't we make them the same?
Conversions would be so much neater,
And we could get rid of one name!
Monday, March 27, 2017
Jones on Sweat
The Chicago Tribune has its theater critic, Chris Jones, reporting from New York on current offerings.
'"Sweat" is inarguably a schematic socialist drama — and hardly the first to play at Broadway prices to mostly upper-middle-class urbanites — that clearly decided in advance what it wanted to say about the state of the nation.'
I guess that I'm a member
Of the upper middle class
But if this play comes near me
I'm giving it a pass.
'"Sweat" is inarguably a schematic socialist drama — and hardly the first to play at Broadway prices to mostly upper-middle-class urbanites — that clearly decided in advance what it wanted to say about the state of the nation.'
I guess that I'm a member
Of the upper middle class
But if this play comes near me
I'm giving it a pass.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
English of All Things
The English language is a big collision
Of French and German all mixed up pell-mell.
So purists often view it with derision
But for some reason it has spread quite well.
It started on an island. The Atlantic
Surrounds the place and seemed to hem them in.
But then they took to ships. They seemed quite frantic,
And spread their babble everywhere they'd been.
So here we are today and this strange language
Will "get you by" in lands the world round.
Its spelling is a curse, its grammar anguish,
But everywhere you go, it can be found.
I feel some sympathy for those who spurn it,
But lots of babies seem to like to learn it.
Of French and German all mixed up pell-mell.
So purists often view it with derision
But for some reason it has spread quite well.
It started on an island. The Atlantic
Surrounds the place and seemed to hem them in.
But then they took to ships. They seemed quite frantic,
And spread their babble everywhere they'd been.
So here we are today and this strange language
Will "get you by" in lands the world round.
Its spelling is a curse, its grammar anguish,
But everywhere you go, it can be found.
I feel some sympathy for those who spurn it,
But lots of babies seem to like to learn it.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Interrogations
Something I realized only yesterday:
These two ten-minute plays of mine - the ones I have coming up in festivals in May and June - have something conspicuous in common: each centers on an interrogation.
The methods of interrogation are actually quite opposite. The genres are deeply dissimilar - realistic police procedural vs. science fiction comedy. The themes of the two festivals are not related: "empathy" vs. "graduation party".
But somehow my under-brain wanted to write about interrogation, apparently. I have no idea why, offhand. I mean, it's a topic I'm interested in, but I don't recall any conscious fascination with it lately.
I let my writing gift me with a puzzle.
Better, I feel, than putting on a muzzle.
The Muse, to be seduced, must be obeyed.
Without her aid, the play does not get made.
These two ten-minute plays of mine - the ones I have coming up in festivals in May and June - have something conspicuous in common: each centers on an interrogation.
The methods of interrogation are actually quite opposite. The genres are deeply dissimilar - realistic police procedural vs. science fiction comedy. The themes of the two festivals are not related: "empathy" vs. "graduation party".
But somehow my under-brain wanted to write about interrogation, apparently. I have no idea why, offhand. I mean, it's a topic I'm interested in, but I don't recall any conscious fascination with it lately.
I let my writing gift me with a puzzle.
Better, I feel, than putting on a muzzle.
The Muse, to be seduced, must be obeyed.
Without her aid, the play does not get made.
Two Ten-Minute Play Festivals
I'm very happy to announce that I've got plays in two upcoming ten-minute play festivals.
The Empathy Festival, from Talif Productions, runs Tuesdays during May, here in Chicago. Facebook page here. Tickets will go on sale here. My play is contemporary, and based on a real incident. My version involves two female cops, engaged in a very tense discussion about a cold murder case. It's called "Fellow Officers". The theme of this festival is, indeed, empathy, and my story illustrates the way empathy can be used as a tool during an interrogation.
The Heartland 10-Minute Play Festival runs weekends during June, 2 hours from Chicago in Normal, Illinois. It's an annual festival, and this year's theme was "Graduation Party". My play is set in my comical science fiction future, when intelligent cats are roaming outer space, and is called "Space Cat Graduation".
I really like the 10-minute play form, which I think is sort of a new form, or sort of a newly popular form perhaps. When I say new, I mean maybe in the last 20 years. At least, a lot of ordinary people my age have never even heard of it. Anyway, the effect is kind of like a extra short story.
You string 8 or so of them together to make an evening's entertainment. Usually that's 8 of them by 8 different authors. And that's the overarching "10 minute play festival" format.
It's an evening of short stories
Through divergent territoties.
The Empathy Festival, from Talif Productions, runs Tuesdays during May, here in Chicago. Facebook page here. Tickets will go on sale here. My play is contemporary, and based on a real incident. My version involves two female cops, engaged in a very tense discussion about a cold murder case. It's called "Fellow Officers". The theme of this festival is, indeed, empathy, and my story illustrates the way empathy can be used as a tool during an interrogation.
The Heartland 10-Minute Play Festival runs weekends during June, 2 hours from Chicago in Normal, Illinois. It's an annual festival, and this year's theme was "Graduation Party". My play is set in my comical science fiction future, when intelligent cats are roaming outer space, and is called "Space Cat Graduation".
I really like the 10-minute play form, which I think is sort of a new form, or sort of a newly popular form perhaps. When I say new, I mean maybe in the last 20 years. At least, a lot of ordinary people my age have never even heard of it. Anyway, the effect is kind of like a extra short story.
You string 8 or so of them together to make an evening's entertainment. Usually that's 8 of them by 8 different authors. And that's the overarching "10 minute play festival" format.
It's an evening of short stories
Through divergent territoties.
Friday, March 24, 2017
Tokyo to Chicago
Flying over Anchorage at night
Staring at a land piled high with snow
I saw the city's streetlights burning bright
And felt the urge to visit them below
To learn what sort of hardy souls reside
In coldness that I'd rather not abide.
Staring at a land piled high with snow
I saw the city's streetlights burning bright
And felt the urge to visit them below
To learn what sort of hardy souls reside
In coldness that I'd rather not abide.
Thursday, March 23, 2017
Where the Day Starts
He thought the International Date Line
Was a phone number he could dial to call
To ask some foreign women out to dine.
But sad to say, that wasn't it at all.
Was a phone number he could dial to call
To ask some foreign women out to dine.
But sad to say, that wasn't it at all.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
In Hong Kong Harbour
The helicopter, like a dragonfly
Buzzes above the water, black against the sky.
It races past our boat, we raise our heads
To watch this great contraption chop the air to shreds.
Buzzes above the water, black against the sky.
It races past our boat, we raise our heads
To watch this great contraption chop the air to shreds.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Kowloon
I'm in Kowloon, but sad to say,
No cows or loons are here today.
What I find really surprising
Is that no one has sued the place for false advertising.
Kowloon is a part of Hong Kong that's not on the island of Hong Kong. It's on the mainland geographically, but part of Hong Kong politically and economically.
As for crazy lawsuits -
Is that just in the USA?
It's full employment for lawyers -We keep them busy that way.
No cows or loons are here today.
What I find really surprising
Is that no one has sued the place for false advertising.
Kowloon is a part of Hong Kong that's not on the island of Hong Kong. It's on the mainland geographically, but part of Hong Kong politically and economically.
As for crazy lawsuits -
Is that just in the USA?
It's full employment for lawyers -We keep them busy that way.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Contrariwise
If you're angry with a friend
On their natal anniversary
Do make sure to send
Berated wishes, sharp and cursory.
On their natal anniversary
Do make sure to send
Berated wishes, sharp and cursory.
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Monday, March 13, 2017
Escalation
We were walking through the government section of Tokyo, when my daughter was surprised to notice lots of green-with-a-sword Saudi flags flying. She surmised that some state visit must be happening. So I saw the front page of a newspaper this morning, and sure enough:
"Saudi King brings two golden escalators... for four day trip to Japan"
Apparently the escalators are for getting on and off his jet.
The Saudis sell Japan a lot of oil, but that business is not as profitable as it was, and they are hoping to sell other stuff to Japan. What other things they have to sell... I'm not clear on.
The Saudis are looking to diversify
Now that oil prices are not so high.
"Saudi King brings two golden escalators... for four day trip to Japan"
Apparently the escalators are for getting on and off his jet.
The Saudis sell Japan a lot of oil, but that business is not as profitable as it was, and they are hoping to sell other stuff to Japan. What other things they have to sell... I'm not clear on.
The Saudis are looking to diversify
Now that oil prices are not so high.
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Nunchucks in Jpan
Weapons charges reversed:
"On March 8, Judge Kazuo Oizumi of the Hiroshima High Court reversed the weapon concealment conviction of a 48-year-old chiropractor. The previous conviction was handed down after a police officer discovered three pairs of nunchaku in the man's car while questioning him in the parking lot of a convenience store."
A chiropractor would know how to whack
Those wacky sticks all over your back.
I have to admit that the bones in my spine
Were so scared by this story, they jumped into line.
"On March 8, Judge Kazuo Oizumi of the Hiroshima High Court reversed the weapon concealment conviction of a 48-year-old chiropractor. The previous conviction was handed down after a police officer discovered three pairs of nunchaku in the man's car while questioning him in the parking lot of a convenience store."
A chiropractor would know how to whack
Those wacky sticks all over your back.
I have to admit that the bones in my spine
Were so scared by this story, they jumped into line.
Yesterday In The Air
We fly toward the sunset
At thirty thousand feet.
It hasn't disappeared yet.
Jet travel's quite the feat.
At thirty thousand feet.
It hasn't disappeared yet.
Jet travel's quite the feat.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Somehow Perfect
"Lawyer’s Pants Catch Fire During Florida Arson Trial"
His trousers caught on fire.
Doesn't mean that he's a liar!
His trousers caught on fire.
Doesn't mean that he's a liar!
Thursday, March 09, 2017
Never Laugh At An Ideograph
Over at Language Log:
"People often ask me questions like these: What's the easiest / hardest language you ever learned?"
Mandarin, he says, is both:
It's easy to learn to speak,
But mastering reading and writing
Will make your brain cells shriek.
"People often ask me questions like these: What's the easiest / hardest language you ever learned?"
Mandarin, he says, is both:
It's easy to learn to speak,
But mastering reading and writing
Will make your brain cells shriek.
Wednesday, March 08, 2017
Cardinal
I saw a very bright one, this morning.
Cardinal, how did you get so red,
From the tip of your tail to the top of your head?
I wonder, when you were learning to fly,
Did you happen to dive in a bucket of dye?
Cardinal, how did you get so red,
From the tip of your tail to the top of your head?
I wonder, when you were learning to fly,
Did you happen to dive in a bucket of dye?
Tuesday, March 07, 2017
Turtle With A Taste For Cold Hard Cash
Change:
Turtle That Ate Nearly 1,000 Coins Recovering From Surgery In Thailand
It's a 25-year-old sea turtle whose life was threatened because it kept eating the coins that people were tossing into its pond "for luck".
It wasn't such good luck for the turtle, whose belly shell was starting to crack. Fortunately, a vet seems to have saved the day. Hopefully the turtle will make a full recovery.
The situation's funny
But don't give turtles money!
Turtle That Ate Nearly 1,000 Coins Recovering From Surgery In Thailand
It's a 25-year-old sea turtle whose life was threatened because it kept eating the coins that people were tossing into its pond "for luck".
It wasn't such good luck for the turtle, whose belly shell was starting to crack. Fortunately, a vet seems to have saved the day. Hopefully the turtle will make a full recovery.
The situation's funny
But don't give turtles money!
Monday, March 06, 2017
Entrance to a Tiki Bar
This is part of the decor as you walk down the stairs to Three Dots And A Dash, a Tiki Bar here in Chicago:
I can't explain,
I need to mull:
Outside my brain
There lives a skull.
Somehow or other, my body has grown
A jointed framework made of bone,
And here's a thing that's odder still -
This skeleton generally does my will.
I can't explain,
I need to mull:
Outside my brain
There lives a skull.
Somehow or other, my body has grown
A jointed framework made of bone,
And here's a thing that's odder still -
This skeleton generally does my will.
Sunday, March 05, 2017
Crows
Today I saw what I believe were huge flocks of crows flying against the grey cotton-candy sky. I didn't get a chance to see any of them land, but they looked like crows, not gulls.
So, what's funny, is that there haven't been a lot of crows around here for years - not since the coming of the West Nile Virus, which was over a decade ago.
I'm guessing they were migrating. It's March. We've had some pretty nice weather. Maybe they think spring is here!
Vast crowd of crows,
Please pass this area by.
Virus-bearing mosquitoes
Here will make you die.
So, what's funny, is that there haven't been a lot of crows around here for years - not since the coming of the West Nile Virus, which was over a decade ago.
I'm guessing they were migrating. It's March. We've had some pretty nice weather. Maybe they think spring is here!
Vast crowd of crows,
Please pass this area by.
Virus-bearing mosquitoes
Here will make you die.
Thursday, March 02, 2017
Not A Clutch Player
Sometimes it's hard to be a carjacker.
"The teen pointed the gun at the 23-year-old man while the man tried to explain how use the gears, according to court records."
Failed to get away quick
Because he couldn't drive stick.
"The teen pointed the gun at the 23-year-old man while the man tried to explain how use the gears, according to court records."
Failed to get away quick
Because he couldn't drive stick.
Wednesday, March 01, 2017
Enthusiasm Not Enough
This young woman, who had been reported for erratic driving, got in trouble:
"In the body cam video released by APD, the officer could be heard asking Marshall to walk in a straight line, but she refused. The video showed she insisted on doing cartwheels instead."
You have to say
She tried her best
But still she failed
Her sobriety test.
"In the body cam video released by APD, the officer could be heard asking Marshall to walk in a straight line, but she refused. The video showed she insisted on doing cartwheels instead."
You have to say
She tried her best
But still she failed
Her sobriety test.
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