Archive for the ‘Reflections’ Category
Opening "Mame"
We have successfully made it through opening night of our production of "Mame", satisfying our audience and experiencing only enough booboisie to make for amusing stories afterward. I am now happily tucked into bed and relaxing for what feels like the first time all week, for which my feet are grateful. Unintentionally funniest audience comment […]
"The Third Man" and Artistic Inevitability
Recently I watched, not for the first time, the film "The Third Man", directed by Carol Reed and starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton. It's an extraordinary film and one of the few that seems to stand up to my repeated viewing. This time I thought to watch it because I wanted to study some […]
In: All, Music & Art, Reflections, Writing
Teabagging and Mad Hattery
The Tea Party is many things at once, but one way or another, it almost always comes back to a campaign against that unsafe urban hellscape of godless liberalism we call our modern world. [Matt Taibbi, "Tea & Crackers", Rolling Stone, 28 September 2010.] Is teabagging — that pitiful longing for the "Leave it to […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Reflections
New Shoes
I have to admit that, although this shoe pinches a little, it does seem to fit reasonably well. And, honest to gods, I so want to smack people around when they talk about retraining. Some of the most skilled and educated people in America are out of work and will probably never have another job […]
French Frogs
In high school I had a lively and effective French teacher named Martha. Martha told us that her absolute favorite word in French was "grenouille", meaning "frog". She taught us carefully to pronounce it thus: gre-noy-ye, more or less. It was a marvelous word, weird and fun to say. Across the years I've said it […]
In: All, Reflections, Such Language!
H.R.Clinton on Tax Distribution
When I read this I was reminded of a report we watched recently–from a few decades ago–that reported that Swedes were the "happiest" people in the world, because of / despite their much higher tax rate and their solid commitment to a social-welfare state. “The rich are not paying their fair share in any nation […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Reflections
Violence is not a Tool of Democracy
Armed insurrection has a mythic status in the US, with good cause. The emphasis, of course, is on "good cause". We have founding notions about our American revolution as an escape from tyranny and a bid for liberty and the freedom of self-government, all deemed a "good cause". Residing inside the ivory tower of establishment […]
In: All, Current Events, Reflections
Dancing with Humanists
There are many times–unless I can think of a really snarky and sarcastic approach to take–that I take a pass on talking about the seemingly endless stories of self-righteously hypocritical homophobes and ultra-fundamentalist anti-science wackos responsible for many recent headline. There are several good reasons but largely it's because I really prefer to take a […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Reflections
NOH8
There has been some rejoicing on the side of equality (and some pursed-lipped tsk-tsking on the anti-equality side) since Cindy McCain came out in support of marriage equality and joined the "NOH8" campaign. I suppose it's gratifying to have a prominent Republican do the right thing, but how many gold stars must one dispense to […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Reflections
Perry v. Schwarzenegger : A Note
Yesterday morning, in a federal courtroom in San Francisco, began the trial of the case Perry v. Schwarzenegger, widely known as the "gay-marriage trial". This is the lawsuit brought against the state of California, challenging the constitutionality of proposition 8, the sate constitutional amendment that outlawed same-gender marriages in that state when they were already […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Reflections
Prejean? Postjean!
I've seen a bit more of the latest Carrie-Prejean hilarity than I really needed to read about; her bench just didn't have the depth for a nine-inning game. (Sorry; my sports metaphors probably suck because, well, because I know nothing about sports.) One does wonder, though, how a person could forget having made a video […]
In: All, Current Events, Reflections
An American Original
I haven't entirely decided — well, haven't come very close to deciding, actually — exactly what I want to be when I grow up. Lately, though, I've been thinking that maybe I'd like to be an "American original". I admit, I'm not entirely sure what "an American original" is, but I tend to like the […]
When Forgiveness Happens
It’s easy to understand Mr. Cheney’s aversion to the investigation that Attorney General Eric Holder ordered last week. On Fox, Mr. Cheney said it was hard to imagine it stopping with the interrogators. He’s right. The government owes Americans a full investigation into the orders to approve torture, abuse and illegal, secret detention, as well […]
In: All, Current Events, Reflections
Cautious Play is Bad Strategy
Today's headlines on stories that interest me brings a curious convergence between 1) health-care reform and 2) marriage equality. Advocates of both have for far too long played a strategy of holding back and not moving as quickly, boldly, and energetically as they can until they feel that "the votes are there". Alas, the votes […]
In: All, Current Events, Reflections
"Better Off" in Iraq?
Human Rights Watch issued a report ("They Want Us Exterminated", 17 August 2009) with the subtitle "Murder, Torture, Sexual Orientation and Gender in Iraq". From the introduction: A killing campaign moved across Iraq in the early months of 2009. While the country remains a dangerous place for many if not most of its citizens, death […]
In: All, Current Events, Reflections
Inspiration, Courage, & Democracy
Ever since the fight last year in California over Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment that took away marriage equality, the christian supremacists have been nervous. They seem to remember only the good old days when homophiles cowered in darkened stairways on disreputable streets, rather than the new, improved post-Stonewall generation of gays and lesbians and […]
In: All, Faaabulosity, Reflections
Positive Procrastination
[What follows is an essay I evidently wrote about five years ago. I was surprised to get to the end and find that I have done just what I said I should do, even though it's taken some time and I haven't hired the staff yet. All things in the fullness of time….] Yesterday morning […]
Please, Link Me to George Soros
Sometimes I save little bits of this and that from my reading, thinking to write something about it. Sometimes I even get around to it, too. The evangelical right can wallow in denial all they want about Palin being victimized by liberals or Democrats or even George Soros (some illiterate wingnut recently tried to link […]
In: All, Hermeneutics, Reflections
Not Missing the News
For most of my life, and certainly from about the time of graduate school onward, I have not had much time, patience for, or interest in broadcast television or radio news. I also never developed the habit of, nor set aside time for, reading a newspaper. Once upon a time I might have listened to […]
To the Moon
I am excited to think that today is the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's landing on the moon, while command-module pilot Michael Collins orbited the moon in the Apollo 11 command module. I am, perhaps, less excited that its been forty years since I was 12 years old! The photograph is of […]
In: All, Current Events, Reflections