Archive for the ‘All’ Category
The Maple-Syrup Lifestyle
Using words from the article in Digital Spy: Secretary Margaret Spellings criticised PBS for spending public money on an episode of the kids show Postcards From Buster which looked at farm life and how maple syrup is made. It just so happened that one particular farm was run by two women who happened to be […]
Think of the Youth
Frank and Kenneth were in bed, at the end of a long day. Frank had already turned out his light and closed his eyes, pretending that it would be difficult to fall asleep, when in fact he would start snoring in under five minutes.) Ken was just closing his book, thinking a bit about the […]
Current Affairs with Frank & Kenneth
It was morning again chez Frank & Kenneth, but a little greyer than usual because snow was in the forecast. Nevertheless, both were up and sitting in the breakfast nook, enjoying soft-cooked eggs on toast and coffee. As usual, Ken was reading interesting tidbits from the newspaper to Frank. "I wonder whether the President has […]
In: All, Frank & Kenneth, Splenetics
Pray Together, Get Divorced
A fascinating story from The Financial Times [London] (US – South finds families that pray together may not stay together) begins with these interesting revelations: When Massachusetts became the first and so far only US state to legalise gay marriage last year, the loudest protests came from the south. Bible Belt states such as Georgia […]
Not SpongeBob SquarePants, too!
Demonstrating that those wacky Christian fundamentalists don't learn their lessons, witness the latest comic silliness and breathless concern over the rumor that SpongeBob SquarePants may be gay. Oh my. From a Reuters story about the brouhaha, I particularly liked this turn of phrase as they point out that this isn't the first time, either: Tinky […]
An American Goodbye
My mother died a year ago. Fortunately, my recently discovered cousin April Hearn, to whom we'd quickly become well attached, and her daughter Eileen Swain, were able to join us in Kansas City for the funeral. After April returned home, she wrote the following piece for the parish magazine of her church in Hastings, St. […]
In: All, Common-Place Book
The White House as Barometer
A few nights ago I read an essay by Daniel J. Boorstin called "The Roles of the White House" (from the collection Cleopatra's Nose). His idea was interesting: he looked at the White House as a visible metaphor for the American government. Me marveled at how humble, how much like an American house it looked, […]
Circumcised & Conservative
There are some men who were circumcised as infants, and who are very, very angry about it. They can never forgive their parents for making what they see as an unwise and unwelcome decision without their input. Although having a foreskin is something that was never part of their personal awareness, or which is part […]
The Oxford Comma
Halfway through Lynne Truss' delightful Eats Shoots & Leaves, I was distressed to discover that she abhors the "Oxford", or "serial", comma. Simply put, it's the comma separating the last item in a list from the rest of a list — or, rather, should be the last comma, unless one objects to its use for […]
In: All, Hermeneutics, Splenetics
The ACT-UP Effect
Lynne Truss, in Eats Shoots & Leaves, takes a philosophically curious position in regard to "The Greengrocer's Apostrophe". Said apostrophe is a mechanism for creating plurals from fruit & vegetable names that are "foreign words ending with vowels" (banana, tomato, mango, and the like), that would otherwise lead to awkward eye/mouth coordination problems (how to […]
Memorable Signs
I am reading Eats Shoots & Leaves, which inspires several notions that I wanted to note. This one is simply to mention a couple of memorable signs that I have seen. The first was a roadsign that I saw several years ago here in suburban Washington DC on "The Parkway" heading into town. Several lanes […]
Great Book Titles
Recently I was at my favorite bookstore (that would be Daedalus Books, their warehouse store in Columbia, MD), and saw what I thought was a remarkable title for a book: Masters of Equitation on Canter, compiled by Martin Dizzle The title itself is masterly, suggesting volumes with the fewest possible perfectly chosen words, at the […]
HRC "Retreat"
This excerpt is from a story (by John M. Broder) in The New York Times (at the beginning of December) called Groups Debate Slower Strategy on Gay Rights. The leadership of the Human Rights Campaign, at a meeting last weekend in Las Vegas, concluded that the group must bow to political reality and moderate its […]
But Are They Wrinkles?
I decided to wear a new shirt today, of the "sport shirt" variety with a button-down collar, so it came packaged with plastic and pins and tissue paper in a pristine plastic bag. Needless to say, it is a modern, no-iron shirt. However, "no iron" is apparently passe, therefore it is a "wrinkle-free" shirt. Of […]
"Staunch" Reactionaries
So, my father is describing to me some character from his past by saying "Now, you've got to remember that he was a staunch Republican…." He paused, and we both wondered why it so frequently happens that Republicans are described as "staunch". "Perhaps," I suggested, "staunchness is required if they are to believe even half […]
Unbeatable Logic
I'm reading an article from The Bedford Minuteman (apparently Massachusetts–why is it that on-line newspapers seem to think we all know where their towns are?) called Gay pink-triangle school sticker stirs debate. It reports on the anguish a few election-emboldened parents feel in Bedford over the fact that they've just noticed "Gay Safe Space" stickers […]
Dirty, Smelly, & Hairy
Behold, a startling statement published by The Independent [UK] newspaper: Smelly, dirty and hairy: why men are still strangers to grooming by Oliver Duff and Nathalie Stahelin One-third of men are strangers to regular deodorant use and 96 per cent care not about excessive body hair. The authors of the article, obviously, think that these […]
President Carter & Same-Sex Unions
From The Southern Voice article Carter backs civil unions for gay couples, “President Carter opposes all forms of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and believes there should be equal protection under the law for people who differ in sexual orientation,” said Deanna Congileo, Carter’s press secretary… The former president has also spoken out […]
Naming Body Parts
In an Advocate interview with the star from the movie "Testosterone" from the 17 August 2004 issue–I've lost the page with his name on it: when asked how he felt about modeling underwear and did it make him uncomfortable, he said I'm not shy about anything. I'm pretty cool with walking around in my underwear. […]
Natural Selection II
In my continuing, back-burner research to demonstrate my point that many, many people (including quite a few who should know better) totally misunderstand the operating of natural selection and its relation to evolution, behold this crystal-clear example. From The Advocate magazine (17 August 2004–I'm behind in my reading), in an article ("It's All Natural") about […]